CHILDREN BY CHANCE 
OR BY CHOICE 

AND SOME CORRELATED CONSIDERATIONS 



BY 

WILLIAM HAWLEY SMITH 

Author of "All the Children of All the People,' 
"The Evolution of Dodd" etc. 




BOSTON 
RICHARD G. BADGER 

THE GORHAM PRESS 



Copyright, 1920, by Richard G. Badger 



All Rights Reserved v 



g)CU604l60 

NOV 17 1920 



Made in the United States of America 



The Gorham Press, Boston, U. S. A. 



J 



TO ALL HONEST AND THOUGHTFUL MEN AND WOMEN 

EVERYWHERE WHO WOULD "sEEK FOR TRUTH 

AS FOR HID treasure" 

THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED 
IN A SPIRIT OF LOVE AND SERVICE 



"The present is a scientific age^ and in the do- 
main of science, contentment with attained condi- 
tions is a curse. It paralyzes initiative, thwarts 
achievement, and fosters the ^ pride of ignorance.^ 
Conten ment is the force that restrains the timorous 
from abandoning that which has been condemned by 
logic and repudiated by experience. It is the amber 
in which defects are handed down from one genera- 
tion to another. Contentment keeps us within the 
compass of present possession, commits us to the 
fewest means of being satisfied, and blinds us to the 
fact that all things are susceptible of betterment.'* 



TO THE READER 

As you begin the reading of this book, I have a 
request, or at least, a suggestion to make, namely, 
that you will begin at the beginning and read what 
follows "in course," and not "skipping 'round" ! ! 

My reason for asking this is, that it is only by 
pursuing the first-noted method that you can get out 
of the book what I have tried to put into it; or, 
really can obtain any comprehensive grasp of what 
the book really contains ! And it is for what the 
book really contains that I have written it; and it 
is with the same purpose that you should read it. 

The need for this word of caution is, that the 
title of the book suggests so sharply what the reader 
is anxious to learn about, that he or she will want 
to come at once to details, and so will go rambling 
about through the pages in search of the much-de- 
sired information. Whoever does this is not only 
doomed to disappointment, but will entirely miss the 
main motive and principle which the book contains. 
And such an outcome is something to be avoided, if 
possible, as it will render both my writing and your 
reading of none effect. So don't do it that way ! 

My discussion of the subject which I have treated 
9 



10 Children by Chance or by Choice 

in this book is in the nature of a mathematical dem- 
onstration, or logical proof of the proposition sug- 
gested by the title, "Children by Chance or by 
Choice," etc. ; and one can never master either of 
these methods of solving a problem, or of arriving 
at a satisfactory conclusion, without following, step 
by step, all the items involved in the argument! 
And if the reader merely "dips into" the pages here 
and there, he can never find out either what they 
were written to substantiate or what he is anxious 
to know! 

So read "in course," please, and then I think there 
is at least a possibility that we may all get some- 
thing out of these pages which will be really worth 
while. 

Wm. Hawley Smith 

Peoria, Illinois 

September 4, 1919 



FOREWORD 

It is utterly useless to attempt to blink the fact 
that as times change and the world progresses, con- 
ditions change and new policies are imperative. I 
doubt if the enlightened makers of our Constitution 
expected or intended that it could be a perfect docu- 
ment, suited to cover all possible contingencies for 
all future time. At any rate, they left an avenue 
for amendment open, and we avail ourselves of it 
from time to time. 

But in the earlier day of the world, when the in- 
spired writer imputed Onan's race-suicidal at- 
tempts to him for criminality and made his sudden 
death appear as a punishment from the Lord for 
his crime, it is doubtful if the sacred writer's in- 
spiration took cognizance of present-day conditions. 

It is hardly safe to assert that the same divine 
Over-ruler who said, "Be fruitful and multiply," 
when the world was young and population sparse, 
would use identical phraseology now when applied 
to sections crowded with the physically and mentally 
deficient, with struggling, suffering women and un- 
derfed, joyless men. 

We have come to believe that God means to be 
good to His creatures and that most of their suf- 

11 



1^ Foreword 

ferings and shortcomings depend on their short- 
sighted ignorance of His law or their imperfect 
interpretation of it, not on the inexorable demands 
of a jealous Creator. 

If war, pestilence, and famine cease, and altruism 
prevails, we do not need to refer to Malthus for in- 
formation as to conditions which inevitably result. 
We surely know that with unrestricted production 
of offspring there would be a struggle, for a time, 
for the fit to find means to provide for the unfit ; but 
that, in the end, without intelligent restrictive 
measures, the two together would populate the earth 
beyond the possibility of sustenance for either. We 
have already seen this in China. We have seen it in 
India. We have seen it in the slums of great cities. 
On the other hand, we have the unique experiments 
of New Zealand and Holland, where, as fewer are 
bom more are reared. We also have our own anom- 
aly of wealthy and educated families (families in 
name only) with one child or none, and opposed to 
this the ignorant toiler and his wife, struggling with 
their handicap of ignorance and their burden of 
half a score or more of children. This may be a 
family, but it is hardly marriage. The former con- 
dition (except where physical disabilities prevent 
child-bearing) might better be called prostitution 
than marriage ; the latter might better be called 
slavery. 

Control there has been, is, and will be. What shall 



Foreword 13 

it be, legal or illegal, sane or insane, humane or bar- 
barous ? 

The writer of these introductory lines has, for 
a quarter of a century, spent all the time and 
thought that he could spare from the family bread- 
winning (since he has six children of his own) in 
devising ways and means of encouraging or com- 
pelling the childless to have families, the ove^-bur- 
dened to curtail, the unmarried to marry, and the 
married to live naturally, healthfully, and happily. 

Never has he seen a book which so simply and 
sensibly puts before the American public the un- 
answerable arguments for proper regulation in the 
size of families. 

We need clear expositions on this subject today, 
when iniquitous laws, conceived, to be sure, in good 
faith by self-appointed guardians of the public con- 
science, cause all good people shame and the 
ignorant or credulous disease, misery and death; 
when long instructed tradition, bom of ignorance, 
is so strong that sane efforts to change laws which 
most enlightened nations have already changed, meet 
with open hostility or surreptitious side-tracking in 
the halls of Congress ; and still the carnage goes on, 
though the war is over. 

Intelligent men and women whose families number 
from two to five children find it almost impossible 
to live on incomes ranging from two to four thousand 
a year, while less intelligent workingmen and wo- 



1^ Foreword 

men, with families several times as large are, many 
of them, obliged to live on half that income. Young 
men and women refrain from marriage because, 
though income has known limits, they know no way 
of limiting the size of the family. Others, with defi- 
nite knowledge, marry and have no family, while 
others, already married and with half a score of chil- 
dren, continue, in their ignorance, to add yet another 
child annually. 

Ignorance and prejudice and old-time dogma have 
had their day with this question, and reason and 
common sense are being applied to it. 

The author of this book is no novice. "The Evo- 
lution of Dodd" made him famous, and "All the 
Children of All the People" was a great addition 
to our pedagogical literature and had been so recog- 
nized by the teachers of many states; but he has 
excelled himself in the present volume, wherein he 
so humanly, irrefutably, appealingly, shows the 
truths which some social workers and scientists have 
grasped, but which the people generally have heeded 
little as questions of gravest public import, though 
multitudes of individuals have defied law and scorned 
tradition in attempting to find rational solutions of 
these problems for themselves. 

This is not such an absolutely unknown field as 
the author states in his introduction ; but it is true 
that among the people generally little is known. 
Great is our disgrace and responsibility that we. 



Foreword 15 

as a medical profession, know things which we know 
are for the people's good, and yet do not rise up as 
one man and demand legal right to teach these 
truths. Great also is the responsibility of legisla- 
tures and people to know that these things are 
known if they do not immediately enact or demand 
the enactment of the proper legislation. So, since 
we already know what to do, since we have adequate 
remedies for this disease of civilization if we could 
only apply them, this book must serve a wonderful 
purpose and be of inestimable value in correcting 
the erroneous thinking of the "neo-Platonic ascetics" 
whom we still have, and whose "opinions" are still 
"intermingled with the dogmas of the early Chris- 
tian theology," and in awakening people to a sense 
of their responsibility toward their fellow-creatures, 
even if their own knowledge, probably surreptitious- 
ly obtained, is adequate for their own needs. 

I believe that this book in itself is capable of 
awakening a strong enough public opinion to de- 
mand and obtain immediate legislation which would 
so correct our laws as to annually save thousands 
of lives and countless unspeakable miseries. 

I would therefore characterize its author, who ad- 
vocates "love and service" in his writings and ex- 
emplifies them in his life, as a great apostle of this 
doctrine. Surely he is an altruist par excellence, 
since his ideas for racial betterment are so sane that 
sensible people cannot fail to at once adopt them. 

W. F. RoBiE, M.D. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER PAGE 

Introduction : . . 19 

I Chance, Choice, and Progress 27 

II Some Bits of History 33 

III "Go TO THE Ant" 37 

IV The Plus of Humanity 44 

V Further Studies of the Plus of Humanity . . 63 

VI The Three I's . . 74 

VH Something of What All These Things have to do 

with Children by Chance or by Choice .... 85 
VIII Some Studies as to the Real Mission of Sex in 

the Human Species 104 

IX What Ought to be Done Under These Circum- 
stances? 119 

X The Pros and Cons of the Issues Involved in the 

Position Just Taken 143 

XI Some Reviews and Demonstrations of the Plus of 
Humanity, as It Applies to Sex in the -Human 

Species !sJ03 

XII Some Results that would Probably Follow Such 

a New Order of Things in Married Life . . . 242 

XIII Objectors and Objections, and Some Answers to 

Both 2r>0 

XIV When Shall These Things Be?^ 286 

XV Some Reasons Why What Should Be Will Become 

What Must Be 297 

XVI One Other Correlated Subject 344 



17 



INTRODUCTION 

In undertaking a study of what is set forth on 
the title page of this book, namely: "Children by 
Chance or by Choice, and Some Correlated Sub- 
jects," I am aware that I am venturing into a region 
that comes as near to being the absolutely unknown 
as anything that still remains unexplored, in all the 
world. 

There is not a single phase of all the issues in- 
volved in these matters that is as yet settled with 
scientific certainty. 

Whether the substitution of choice for chance, in 
bringing children into the world, is a possibility, 
even for certain individual parents, is as yet a 
mooted question, when it comes to the experiences 
of married men and women, take them as they go! 

Much less is it known whether, even if such were 
discovered, such a definite possibility could ever be 
made available for all classes and conditions of the 
human race. 

And, even if such a manner of re-populating the 
earth should be found out, the question still remains 
whether such conditions would subserve the highest 
and best interests of humanity as a whole. 

19 



^0 Children hy Chance or by Choice 

j 

In a word, the possibility, the practicability, the 

utility, the wisdom, of such a condition of affairs 

in human life — all these are unsettled issues as 

things now are. So much is certain. 

But it is equally certain that the unknown and 
the unexplored always present legitimate fields for 
attempted discovery, and there is always a poignant 
fascination that lures men on to try to find out what 
no one as yet is certain of ! 

Millions of money have been spent, and many hu- 
man lives have been sacrificed in attempts to discover 
the North Pole. My belief is that the truths I am 
seeking to discover, in my present search, are of far 
more moment to humanity than is being able to 
locate the exact spot on the earth's surface where 
the north end of its axis sticks out into cold weather ! 

It is in this spirit, and imbued with this belief, 
that I have been studying the subjects I have dis- 
cussed in this book for more than forty years. 

In the prosecution of such work, I have been as- 
sisted by scores, not to say hundreds, of good men 
and women, married and unmarried, who have most 
generously given me the benefit of their own per- 
sonal experiences along the lines of my search. The 
first noted of these, namely, the married, have let 
me know what they have found out regarding the 
first part of my inquiry, namely, that of bringing 
children into time and space by choice rather than 
by chance. 



Introduction 21 

On the other hand, a large number of unmarried 
men and women have freely submitted to me their 
own experiences on "some correlated subjects" which 
are almost, if not quite, as important as the tes- 
timony I have heretofore referred to. 

Added to the testimony of these two classes of 
witnesses, I have that of a large number of doctors, 
lawyers and clergj^men, representatives of three pro- 
fessional classes whose work brings them into close 
touch with those who know most of these vital af- 
fairs of life through their own experiences, and 
which knowledge these have imparted as patients, 
clients, or parishioners to their physicians, counsel- 
ors or pastors, respectively. 

To all of these I am under more obligation than 
I can possibly express, not on my part only, but 
for the sake of the men and women who, I hope, may 
profit from what these devoted souls have so faith- 
fully and truthfully transmitted to me, and through 
me to you who may read these pages. 

It goes without saying, that in the very nature 
of things, the personality of these individuals must 
remain undisclosed; but none the less, they are all 
worthy of crowns of honor for what they have so 
generously donated to this supreme cause in hu- 
man existence. 

What I have done is, to put together these many 
experiences, and by strictly inductive methods of 
treatment to try to form some conclusions that shall 



22 Children by Chance or by Choice 

be of lasting value to those who come after — that is, 
to generations now living and to those yet unborn. 

I have treated some of the things that are in- 
volved in these subjects by analogical methods, but 
in all such cases I have used the utmost care to keep 
such analogies strictly within the bounds in which 
they may be made to truthfully apply. 

We all know that, as a rule, analogy is one of the 
most dangerous methods of applied reasoning. I 
need not stop here to tell why this is so. The world 
is full of illustrations of this fact, however. 

But I am certain none of my readers can find 
cause for accusing me of any unfairness or injustice 
in this respect. On the other hand, they will give 
me credit for calling attention to an untold num- 
ber of the most grave and flagrant violations of true 
analogical reasonings, on the part of many writers 
who have used this method of arriving at conclu- 
sions regarding the subjects which I have discussed 
in these pages. 

I wish the reader would make special note of this 
point, and discern how it works out as this book is 
read. 

In order to give the subjects I have treated a 
strong foundation to rest upon, I have been obliged 
to go a good way down, or back, into certain basic 
principles that pertain to human life and human 
progress. All such treatment naturally comes in 
the first part of the book, and for it I bespeak the 



Introdiiction 23 

most careful attention and thoughtful study on the 
part of the reader. It is only by fully mastering 
this part of my argument that one can come into a 
state of mind for passing just judgment upon the 
conclusions I have finally arrived at, and which will 
be found in the later chapters of what I have writ- 
ten. 

I have discussed the issues I have presented from 
two viewpoints: first, that of common humanity; 
second, that of common sense. Truly, these two 
are virtually one, in any final analysis. That they 
have not always been so is the pity! It is my pur- 
pose to make them agree, herewith, though I have 
separated them somewhat by putting one before the 
other in what I have written. 

So now let us begin at the beginning and reason 
together, calmly, honestly, scientifically, generously, 
and in a truly unbiased manner on these subjects 
which all must acknowledge are the most important 
in the whole realm of human life and action, and es- 
pecially so just at this particular period of human 
history, as the denouement of my argument will 
show. 



CHILDREN BY CHANCE 
OR BY CHOICE 



CHILDREN BY CHANCE OR 
BY CHOICE 

CHAPTER I 

CHANCE, CHOICE, AND PROGRESS 

In the pursuance of these studies, I wish, first of 
all, to take up and consider the relative values of 
chance and choice, as their influences for producing 
results appear among the causes of human progress 
in general. It is in this way that I shall lead up to 
and raise the question which I hope to answer be- 
fore we get through, namely, how these factors rela- 
tively apply to the matter of bringing children into 
this world! 

On the first of these points it almost goes without 
saying, for it is practically self-evident, that the 
measure of human progress, all along the line — all 
the way from the primordial conditions of mankind 
to the highest achievements of the race in the most 
modem times — is the degree to which man has elimi- 
nated chance as a factor in his life and condition- 
ings, and established choice, to the extent of positive 

27 



28 Children by Chance or by Choice 

certainty of actual results deliberately planned for, 
and produced by wilfully controlled causes — in its 
stead ! 

This is a fundamental principle which is without 
exception as far as human progress has so far come, 
as any student of the records of the growth and 
development of the race can verify if he will take 
the time to do so. 

Just to emphasize the working out of this prin- 
ciple of choice taking the place of chance in human 
progress, it is only necessary to point out the fact 
that with primitive man, chance was the chief fac- 
tor in his life. His food supply was almost wholly 
dependent upon it, and shelter and clothing were 
similarly conditioned. If he went out to hunt, he 
took his chances of finding game, and he fished by 
the same rule. If he were a shepherd, he led his 
flock where pasture chanced to be. The first hu- 
man habitation was a hole in the rocks which its oc- 
cupant chanced upon, and the scant clothing he and 
his wore was of chance origin and adaptation. 
These are the records of individual man in his earli- 
est estate. 

Collectively considered, the same chance factors 
are so pronounced in the early conditionings of the 
race that their recital seems superfluous. When a 
plague broke out among a people or tribe, its mem- 
bers had no protection against its ravages, but each 
had to take his chances of perishing from its unre- 



Chance, Choice, and Progress 29 

stricted attacks. Famine ran riot after a chance 
unfavorable season, and there was no way of ward- 
ing off its devastations. The sailor on the high 
seas took his chances of surviving the storms he was 
ill prepared to weather, and the farmer knew not 
when he sowed his seed what the harvest would be. 

But as man has progressed in the scale of being, 
all these conditions have changed, to a greater or 
less degree, and the measure of his advance is the 
total of his emancipation from the chances which so 
long held him in thrall. 

Probably the highest achievements of this prin- 
ciple are found in the realm of animate life-forms 
below man. Doubtless the variations in plants and 
animals have always been caused by intelligently di- 
rected energy, but none of this was primarily under 
the control of man; and hence, so far as humanity 
was concerned, such changes were matters of chance. 
But as time has gone on man has entered this field of 
purposeful direction of the life-force, and his guid- 
ing hand is now seen in thousands of definite and 
predetermined forms of vegetable and animal life 
into whose present status the element of chance en- 
ters not a whit. To such degree is this true that it 
can safely be asserted that the propagation of plants 
and the breeding of domestic animals at the hands 
of human guidance is no longer a matter of chance, 
but one of almost definite scientific certainty. Here 
not only have the hopes of discoverers been realized. 



30 Children hy Chance or by Choice 

but the utmost dreams of wild enthusiasts have been 
surpassed. 

It is these achievements which lead us to believe 
that the elimination of chance as a factor in hu- 
man affairs will progress with the years till it shall 
practically disappear altogether ! This, in spite of 
the fact that there are some fields in which it still 
reigns supreme, even at this late day, and the ob- 
stacles which are arrayed against its extermination 
seem almost insurmountable. 

Among these yet-to-be^attained accomplishments 
still to be hoped for is that of bringing children into 
this world by choice rather than by chance, even if 
now one hardly dares ask the question : Will chance 
ever he cast out from the highest function of human 
beings, or must souls forever be incarnated at hap- 
hazard? 

The processes of evolution are so slow, in their 
tireless workings, that their watchers and noters 
sometimes grow heartsick ; but, from what they have 
already accomplished, we are warranted in prophe- 
sying what they will yet effect. And since man has 
become a factor in helping to forward evolutionary 
processes, in so many of the ways in which the life- 
force manifests itself, it is not too much to main- 
tain that, nature and man workvng together and in 
harmony, conditions will some day be established 
which will make it certain that every soul born into 



Chance, Choice, and Progress 31 

this world shall enter hy the gate of definite purpose 
and assurance rather than at the portal of chance. 

It must he possible that, some time, in all the hu- 
man family, the art of love will be discovered, 
taught, and acquired, and the science of procreation 
studied and mastered. 

And because these things are so, study and inves- 
tigation as to the laws that pertain to the genera- 
tion, the growth and the betterment of all forms 
of life, from the lowest to the highest, human life 
included, are strictly in order; and to disseminate a 
knowledge of such helpful discoveries as may be 
found, to teach those who come after so that wis- 
dom shall take the place of folly, and "I know" shall 
supplant "I guess" or "may-be-so" in all the realms 
of life activity — this is the highest service that any 
soul can render to the human race. Here lies the 
labor for the original researcher, the explorer, the 
philosopher, the thinker, and the workers-for-good, 
in every line of life. 

But here, in especial, lie the purpose and the labor 
which animate and give pertinence to the studies 
and observations set forth in the following pages, 
which are devoted to a consideration of the rightful 
propagation of the human species, to the bringing 
of human bodies and souls into time and space, and 
to the issues that are naturally and inseparably 
connected therewith. 



S2 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

Whether these things shall forever continue to 
be as they have for the most part, always been, or 
whether something better can take their place, this 
is what all that follows in this book is about. 



CHAPTER II 



SOME BITS OF HISTORY 



For the sake of deepening and solidifying the 
foundation principle of progress by choice rather 
than by chance, it will be well to review, somewhat 
in detail, some of the results that have already been 
achieved in the affairs of this world by the use of 
this method. 

A very simple illustration is the fact that the most 
luscious apple that now gratifies the human palate 
has been evolved from the bitter fruit of the crab- 
tree, which will draw one's mouth to a pucker; and 
this change, this progress, has been brought about by 
the deliberate choice of man to make something bet- 
ter than the primary form of the apple family. 

Or, go further back in the expressions of form and 
force that appear in this world, and note what the 
choice of man has effected in these realms.* See 
what chemical exploitations have come to under such 
guidance! Volumes could not obtain the records of 
the advancements and improvements which have been 
made on original appearances and primary condi- 
tions on this score. 



34 Children by Chance or by Choice 

Or, take the line of mechanical appliances, and 
contrast what now is with what once was, and see 
how true it is that all advance in this part of the 
utilization of energy has come as a result of the 
choice of man! More volumes could be written in 
substantiation of this proposition, and but half the 
truth would then be told. 

Or, look at all the variations and developments 
that have been made in animal life through the ex- 
ercise of this power of choice, and which power ex- 
ists in man alone! Compare the hog of to-day with 
the wild boar of yesterday, or the horses of this gen- 
eration with those that primarily roamed the plains 
in uncounted herds, and all of crude feature and 
form! 

Not to make too long a story of this, or to weary 
the reader with multitudes of examples, let any one 
think of any expression of electrical or chemical en- 
ergy, or of mechanical power, or of life-force, which 
has been made subject to the influence of the choice 
of man^ and note the changes that have been brought 
about by such means, and he will see the point I am 
now driving at. 

And when this is done, look at the human race, 
and think how little has been accomplished for its 
improvement, at the hands of choice rather than of 
chance, so far as the reproduction of the species is 
concerned, and then see! 



Some Bits of History 35 

On this count, so far in the world's history, hardly 
a single move for progress has as yet been made! 
The marvel of it! 

On all other planes except that of the improve- 
ment of the human race, the choice of man has got 
in its work; but here it has not, as yet, been given 
even a reasonable opportunity to express itself. On 
the contrary, its exercise in this field is, to this day, 
forbidden by law; and even so grave and reverend 
a body of men as a committee of leading physicians 
in one of the foremost Medical Societies in this 
country, to whom the matter of giving choice rather 
than chance a place in the economy of human re- 
production was referred, made a report which read: 
"We must uphold the laws of nature against man's 
meddling 1" 

Everywhere else man has "meddled," if you will, 
with nature's way of doing things ; but here, ac- 
cording to this kind of philosophy, he must forever 
stand back and let nature have her way, regard- 
less ! 

In the presence of the Bits of History narrated in 
this chapter, and of thousands of similars that might 
be cited, it seems incredible that a body of sane 
and educated men could be guilty of making a re- 
port so utterly at variance with the principles em- 
bodied in all human progress. But more of this 
later. 



36 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

For the present, let the reader permit this re- 
markable condition of affairs to get a good grip on 
his reason, his common sense and his conscience, as 
a most excellent preparation for looking into th^ 
following chapters! 



CHAPTER III 



As a next step m this study of children coming 
Into this world by choice rather than by chance, I 
call the attention of the reader to a most common 
error which has, so far, been made by nearly all 
writers and talkers on this subject. 

I have shown that choice is an universal factor 
in human progress, wherever progress has been 
made, and I have further suggested, by implication, 
at least, that, by the same token, it should become 
an item in the matter of the reproduction of the 
human species, as it is not yet. 

Next, I emphasize, strongly, the fact that choice 
as to what one shall do or shall not do is a disti/nc- 
tively huma/n characteristic! No stone, no tree, no 
mere animal — no form of life or force, below man, 
has, in and of itself, a power of choice which orig- 
inates in the individual itself, and which can be ex- 
ercised solely on the initiative of the individual pos- 
sessing this quality. 

All these lower forms of being, or of state, if they 
act at all, do so under the control of some power 

37 



38 Children by Chance or by Choice 

other than anything which originates from within 
themselves. They are all acted upon by some power 
outside themselves, and their acts are all determined 
for them, rather than originated by them. They 
do what they must and not what they choose to do ! 

This is a distinctive difference between man and 
all other created forms, animate or inanimate, what- 
soever; and it is this difference that I insist on to 
the utmost, just at this point in my argument. 

Now it is because of this distinctive difference be- 
tween human beings and all other created forms, this 
power of choice, of mdividual initiative^ on the part 
of man, that mankind is thereby set outside of, or 
apart from and beyond all comparisons with other 
beings which have not this quality, in all matters 
where an exercise of will has the possibility of taking 
the place of a compulsory force acting from with- 
out, as the basic cause of the acts which are done by 
the organisms through which one or the other of 
these forces acts! 

That is, an individuality that has the power 
within itself of determining its own actions is not to 
be guided, or ruled, or judged by the laws and prece- 
dents that pertain to individualities whose acts are 
controlled by something outside of, or some one 
other than themselves ! 

This is the first great reason why nearly all analo- 
gies that are drawn between man and anything be- 



"Go to the Ant" 39 

low him, are almost entirely worthless, and, in most 
cases, absolutely false. 

Now, in spite of all these plain and undeniable 
facts, one of the most common methods of trying 
to teach and direct human beings in their varied 
wa^^s of life, is to make comparisons with, and to 
draw analogies from life-forms below mankind, and 
to apply these, sometimes almost without discrimina- 
tion or reservation, to the totality of men, women 
and children, individually and collectively, in all 
their thoughts, words and deeds! 

Thus, Solomon wrote "Go to the ant, thou slug- 
gard," and Jesus said, "Consider the lilies, how they 
grow." In much the same way Maeterlinck worked 
out a system of human government from studying 
hives of bees, and Mendel evolved a theory of the 
laws of heredity by breeding pigeons; while other 
men and women have made similar demonstrations in 
similar ways. 

Now all these sayings and conclusions are per- 
fectly right in their way, the only trouble with them 
being the length to which they are carried by over- 
zealous souls who analogically apply them to hu- 
manity! Thus the Wise man was perfectly justi- 
fied in advising a lazy person to observe and profit 
by the industrious ways of the ant ; and Jesus gave 
the best of advice to people who were vain of their 
dress when he said, "Consider the lilies." Likewise 



40 Children hy Chance or by Choice 

Maeterlinck did a most wonderful piece of patient 
observation when he studied the ways of bees as he 
did; and Mendel is to be commended for his patient 
and persistent methods of breeding fowls and four- 
footed beasts. 

But the point that should be noted with regard 
to the conclusions and philosophies that are drawn 
from a study of any and all forms of hfe below 
man, and which are afterward made to apply to 
humanity as a whole, at the hands of analogy is, 
that they fall down and fail utterly, because of one 
fatal lack which they all possess, as follows: 

Comparisons that are really of value can be made 
only between things that are alike at the points at 
wUch the comparisons are made; and to push such 
comparisons, or analogies, on, to points where the 
thmgs compared difer essentially—this is to make a 
grave mistake and to distort methods which might 
■work out valuably if only they were not forced be- 
yond tlieir legitimate fields of application! 

And here is the place where all these compari- 
sons between man and lower forms of life, and the 
conclusions drawn from them, fall short! All these 
obsei-vations and experiments are made upon forms 
of life below man; and then they are made to apply 
to matters and things in the human economy which 
are totally different from the life-experiences from 
which they are drawn! 



"Go to the Ant" 41 

Thus, all the acts that are referred to in the quo- 
tations from the Bible, and the studies I have cited, 
are done by instinct, merely, and these acts are then 
com.pared to the acts of men and women, which are 
done under the control of the will, that is by choice ; 
and right there is where all the evils arise from mak- 
ing such comparisons ! 

The ant is industrious because it is built that way 
and it could not do o"ther than as it does, even if it 
should want to, and it never wants to — is incapable 
of wanting to! The lily grows by no volition of its 
own, but solely by means over which it has, in and 
of itself, no control whatever. The lily, per se, has 
no guiding ability in determining its form or its col- 
ors! It takes the shape it has, and the color with 
which it is endowed because it has to, and not because 
it chooses to ! The element of its own choice enters 
into its expression not a whit! 

In the same way the bee builds its cells and gath- 
ers and deposits its sweets because it mu^t and not 
because it wills to do as it does. It has to do, rather 
than chooses to do. It is compelled to do what it 
does rather than acts of its own volition and its own 
initiative. 

In almost identical fashion, Mendel's pigeons and 
rabbits and guinea pigs were formed, as to their 
bodies, or marked as to the coverings of those bodies, 
as they were, one generation after another, not 



42 Children by Chance or hy Choice 

through any choice or exercise of wills of their own, 
but solely as some force other than themselves pre- 
determined and directed ! 

And above all, so far as my particular argument 
is concerned, how many descendants any of these 
should have was not withm the scope of their deter- 
minvng at all, or in any way, shape or manner, what- 
ever ! All these bred because instinct compelled them 
to breed, and not becaues they chose, of their own 
wills to do so ! Think of that a minute ! 

All of which means that the laws and conditions 
which pertain to the breeding of mere animals differ 
vitally and immeasurably from those that hold good 
m the reproduction of the human species, in this es- 
sential particular, namely, that the one is grounded 
in mere INSTINCT and the other has in its exercise 
the possible POWER OF CHOICE. 

The possible power of choice as to the number of 
its progeny has no place in the breeding of merely 
vegetable or animal life-forms! But there is at 
least the possibility of the exercise of the power of 
choice in human procreation, and this fact precludes 
the possibility of making any analogical comparison 
between the two, which shall hold good in the essen- 
tials in the premises! 

Drive a stake there, and drive it deep, for it is 
a center to tie to, that must and will hold when the 
strain of a sane conclusion is drawn on this par- 
ticular part of my argument. 



"Go to the Anf 43 

As to this matter of instinct as the forceful and 
guiding factor in mere animal breeding, and of what 
takes its place in the propagation of the human race, 
of this I shall have more to say later on. Just now, 
and to lead up to the next chapter, note well that it 
is this power of choice which man has, and which 
vegetables and mere animals have not, which makes 
man man — that is, this quality makes man something 
more than any form of life which exists below him! 

This something more than exists below man, I have 
named 'Hhe plus of humanity, ^^ and it is this that I 
shall study in detail before we proceed to the more 
complex considerations which are involved in the 
elaborations of the discussion of the subjects in hand. 

Let this chapter be summed up, then, in the con^ 
elusion that man is more than any plant or any mere 
animal ; that he is more than lily, or ant, or bee, or 
pigeon, or rabbit or guinea pig, and that, therefore, 
none of his acts which come under the control of his 
will — his power of choice — can be rightly measured 
by any rod or line whose dimensions are laid out on 
mere material planes ; neither can the right or the 
wrong of his acts be justly judged by standards 
which are derived from expressions of the life-force 
which are below man's scale of being ! 

Keep this point in mind, as you read on, for it is 
fundamental in the matter of "the plus of human- 
ity." 



CHAPTER IV 



THE PLUS OF HUMANITY 



By ^HTie plus of humanity'' I mean, as I have al- 
ready hinted, all those qualities and attainments 
which have been acquired by man through the ex- 
ercise of his own power of choice, rather than at the 
hands of chance! 

The basis of all this plus is the human will; and it 
is the possession and the use of this characteristic on 
the part of mankind, which distinguishes human be- 
ings from all other life^forms! It is this ^^plusy" 
which is thus added to man's natural make-up (to 
his mere animality, if you please) which makes man 
man; and which, in its totality, shows the lengths to 
which man has progressed beyond all other created 
beings ! 

This fact is such an important point in what we 
are studying that it needs something more than a 
simple statement of its significance and truthfulness ; 
and for this reason I shall devote this chapter to its 
extended consideration, as follows: 

Let us first take a very simple illustration of how 
this principle applies and holds good in so common 

44 



The Plus of Humanity 45 

a case as that of the physical appetite for food as 
it appears in mankind. Regarding this, I shall 
show what the power of choice and the will of man 
have produced beyond mere animality, on this par- 
ticular part of man's make-up and being. 

In common with all animals below man, human be- 
ings possess a physical appetite for food. They 
have to eat to live. But, on the other hand, they 
do not have to live merely to eat, as is practically 
the case with all other forms of animal life! That 
is, there is a vast difference in the purposes and the 
results that come from the exercise of this quality 
in eating, as it exists in man and in the forms of life 
below him. 

Thus, among all the animals below man, the sole 
purposes of physical appetite for food, are first, to 
keep the body of the possessor alive ; and second, to 
keep that body in such condition that it may repro- 
duce after its own kind. With these two demands 
of mere animal life satisfied, there is nothing more 
possible of realization on the part of such life- 
forms, through the aid of, or stimulation by food, 
the desire for which is seated in physical appetite ! 

This simple statement of a universal fact needs 
only to be made to have its truthfulness universally 
acknowledged. 

But now observe the out-working of physical ap- 
petite for food as it exists in human beings, and as 
wrought upon by man's choice and will! Here, 



46 Children by Chance or by Choice 

while it still maintains the dual utility-function of 
its existence, namely, bodily sustenance and the 
keeping of the body in such condition that repro- 
duction is possible — qualities which are common to 
all forms of animal life, mankind included — yet it has 
added modes of expression which no form of life be- 
low mankind possesses in the least degree! 

It is this added quality, which first shows itself m 
human bevngs^ this something more than appears in 
any previous forms of life, that I call ^Hhe plus of 
humanity, ^^ and I am here considering it only inso- | 
far as it applies to physical appetite for food, as it 
exists in mankind. 

Something of the extent and significance of this 
particular "plus," in this regard, let us consider to- 
gether, for a little as follows : 

Suppose you, whoever you are, man or woman, 
should come to our home for dinner some day. Let 
us see what such an experience would be like. 

We would not make any great "spread" for you, 
but we would add a few extras in your honor, as you 
would like to have us, and as we would be pleased to 
do. And here is something of what you would find : 

The well-built table would be covered with a well- 
laundered and immaculate table-cloth, and at each 
place about the board there would be laid a nap- 
kin, two knives and probably three forks, and an 
equal number of spoons, or furnishings of equal rank, 
taste and mutual delight. There would also be an 



The Plus of Humanity 47 

ample supply of glass and of china and other fur- 
nishings, etc., etc., as in such cases made and pro- 
vided, with a vase of flowers in the center of the 
table, of course. So much for the table itself, as we 
sat down to it. 

And then we would have a soup, or, possibly a 
fruit cocktail ahead of that, which would be fol- 
lowed by a meat course (though we might put in an 
extra of fish because you were with us) and after 
the meat course, we would have a salad, followed 
by a pudding (or, perhaps pie, for wife and I were 
both born and raised in the "pie belt," and we still 
cling to some of our pristine likings, in spite of all 
the conventions which culture has brought us 
through the years) and then would come coffee and 
finger bowls. 

There ! I hope you would get a fairly satisfactory 
dinner out of such a menu, for I assure you that 
everything served on our table would be the best of 
its kind. To have all our food appear in its best es- 
tate on our table, has been a fundamental princi- 
ple with wife and myself, during the nearly half- 
century of our married life; and such fact has had 
much to do with the success of our conjugal rela- 
tions during all these years. (Please note that last 
statement well ; for, really, it has ever so much sig- 
nificance in the argument which I hope to clinch 
before I get through.) 

And after dinner, we might smoke for an hour in 



48 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

the library, if you are a man ; or, if you are a woman, 
you might take up your crochet work or your tat- 
ting, as we sat in easy chairs before a comfortable 
wood fire on the hearth. 

Well, as we sit there and smoke, or "tat," as the 
case may be, let's review the experiences of the time 
we have just had together, and see how many of them 
belong to the mere animality there is in us, and how 
many to the plus of our humanity I 

How large a factor in that dinner was the pur- 
pose merely to keep our bodies alive and in such 
condition that we could reproduce after our kind? 
Even to suggest such a question brings a frown to 
the brow and a qualm to the heart, so small a por- 
tion of this part of our lives had even recognition 
in what took place at this, our mutual meeting. 

And yet, to keep olive and to he able to breed is all 
that any mere animal could have gotten out of such 
a meal as we have partaken of, or any other! 

Go into details a little more, just here, and see 
what comes from so doing. See how small a part of 
mere animality there was in the entire occasion ! 
Just eliminate from that dinner everything except 
what was absolutely necessary to keep life in our 
bodies and maintain our procreative abilities, and 
see how little would be left! 

Under such ordering, the table goes, the linen goes, 
all the silver, the glass, the china, the flowers — in a 
word, all the table furnishings whatsoever. Even 



The Plus of Humcmity 49 

the chairs we sat on have no place in such a clear- 
ing out of the non-essentials of mere physical ex- 
istence ! 

And with the throwing out of these go all the 
cooking of the various foods ; indeed, all the variety 
of foods themselves, as well ; and all that we have left 
is a heap of raw meat and unground grain, that 
we can gather about and devour, after the manner 
of all the rest of animal life except human beings ! 

To be sure, such bestial manner of feeding to- 
gether would have sustained life and kept us in con- 
dition to cause more of our likes to be — to live as 
we had lived, and to die as we should have to die ; 
all just as those before us had lived and died, but 
all without making a single step of progress toward 
better things in the scale of our being. 

(Take a fresh cigar from the holder on the man- 
tle, or begin the next pattern of your thread-work, 
and let us go on a little further with this talk. 
Thanks !) 

And now see what the power of choice, exercised 
through the will of man, had to do with what we 
experienced at dinner. Looked at in the order of 
their progress from crude materials to the well-pre- 
pared foods we ate, and all the settings and accom- 
paniments that went with these same — such develop- 
ments and adaptations came as follows : 

To begin with, all these^-in^rovements on orig- 
inal conditions had their start in i\iQ desire of man 



50 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

for something better than he already had ; and this 
desire was grounded in man's power to choose. 
Without such power, desire for better things would 
not have a leg to stand on! Mere animals have no 
power to choose, on their own initiative, and so they 
never start anything, out of themselves, which will 
inure to their own improvement, or that of their en- 
vironment ! Such life^forms have no desire to im- 
prove their condition or their conditionings. They 
are content to live as they are, and that's enough. 

But man, even primitive man, desired something 
better for himself and his, and right there was the 
beginning of such human progress as resulted in 
our dinner — and of much else as well, as we shall 
see later. 

The next step in such advance, which resulted in 
our dinner program, came when the imagination of 
man took up what his desire had suggested, and 
elaborated these as only this faculty of the human 
make-up is capable of doing. It thought out pos- 
sibilities ; it saw visions and dreamed dreams of what 
the future might have in store to satisfy the desires 
of men, as these were more or less imperfectly and 
crudely expressed. 

And after the imagination had got in its work on 
the problem which desire had suggested, then man's 
ingenuity took up the task of making available, of 
concretely realizing what was put up to it at the 



The Plus of Humanity 61 

hands of these strictly human qualities, whose ac- 
tivities had preceded its possible expression. 

Desire, imagination, ingenuity, all based in man's 
power of choice, and all exercised in the order above 
stated, each acting in turn upon everything we had 
to do with at dinner — these are what made possible 
the meal we have just partaken of. 

And it is these same human characteristics, acting 
in this same order, which are behind and underneath 
all human progress! It is in the exercise of these 
strictly human qualities that a plus of humanity be- 
comes possible, that it is what it is ; and that, being 
what it is, puts man in a class by himself, one not to 
be measured or judged by standards which apply 
only to that which is below him, NOTE THAT 
WELL! 

Let me say it again, for it is fundamental, and 
needs to be inculcated ("inculcated'^ means kicked 
in) that it is this plus of humanity, which has come 
to mankind at the hands of desire, imagination and 
human ingenuity, all based on man's power of 
choice, which makes man man ! Were it not for these 
possessions, exercised on man's own initiative, he 
would be no more than any other created life-form, 
just a plant in the ground or a beast of the field, 
merely that and nothing more ! 

(Let's think of that a minute while we make rings 
of smoke, or ravel out a mistake in the last pattern. 
Now we will go on.) 



52 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

Really, what we actually ate as we sat at table, 
was the smallest part of our dining together! I 
doubt if, a week from now you could tell what it was 
you had eaten as our guest. But the plusses of that 
meal! The converse we had as we ate! The 
stories we told, the views of life we discussed, the 
grace of wife as she poured the coffee or handed 
you an extra lump of sugar for j^our cup — all these 
things, and a score besides, none of which had the 
least thing in the world to do with the mere animality 
of your being or mine, and not one of which any 
animal other than man could, by any possibility, get 
anything out of — all these things, all these 
"plusses," you will not only remember, but all such 
are now a part of your life, and you are, and always 
will be, a stronger and a better man or woman, on 
all sides of your human existence, as a result of our 
breaking bread together as we did. 

(And we will think of that a minute, as we smoke 
or knit ; for, involved in all this, and wrapped up in 
it somewhere and somehow, is this plus of humanity, 
as it pertains to the physical appetite of man, which 
I am trying to reveal and to show the meaning of.) 

And excuse me if, once more, for the sake of driv- 
ing this point home, I insist on the fact that if it had 
not been for the ingenuity of men, inspired by their 
desires and imaginations, which manipulated for our 
uses the crude elements which, in a raw form, sustain 
life in mere animals, but which appeared on our table 



The Plus of Humanity 53 

as they did — ^if it had not been for these causative 
factors in the case, there could have been no real hu- 
man progress for us, nor for any in the world, so 
far as growth through the physical appetite is con- 
cerned ; but we, and with us all mankind, would have 
forever remained like the rest of the brutes, and never 
have risen above the plane of animality in any way ! 
That is, if man had been compelled always to eat un- 
ground grain and raw meat, he could never have be- 
come the mental, moral and spiritual being he now 
is, even in the lowest forms of the expression of these 
god-like qualities ! 

What I bear down on hard again, is, that it was 
the ability to choose, which man alone has, acting 
by means of his vrwentive powers, which were, in turn, 
inspired by his desires and led on by his imagination, 
that makes progress for himself possible, that 
brought a plus to the race ! And this same power 
has kept adding to that increment of humanity as 
time has gone on through all the years that man 
has lived in this world. 

And what has been shall be, vn all the realms of 
human life, so long as man is man! 

(Blow another ring of smoke, or pause in your 
knitting, as you think that proposition through!) 

Oh, yes, as you say, not all dinners are like ours, 
but that doesn't alter the main points in my argu- 
ment. I have eaten many very simple dinners in 
many very humble homes where the principle I am 



64 Children by Chance or by Choice 

standing for was realized to a supreme degree. You 
have done the same. 

The plus of humanity, in the matter of physical 
appetite, is not confined to any particular class of 
people; but the principle it contains is as wide-ex- 
tended as the race itself. And again I say that it is 
this quality that makes man man! 

Of course, it is true that there are yet gluttons in 
the world. Indeed, I sometimes wonder if it is not 
true that the majority of mankind are still best 
pleased with what they can eat ! I guess it is true 
that, if all the people in all the world were gathered 
together in one place, and one wanted to find some 
one thing which the greatest number of them all were 
best pleased with, all one should have to do would 
be to lift up a mighty voice and say: "Oh, all ye 
people who are best pleased with what you can eat, 
step out to the left !" 

And what a mighty rushing to the left there would 
be! 

But, grant all this as true, that these things are 
still far from what we wish they were, and that 
the great majority of mankind would step out to 
the left on a request such as that suggested; still, 
thank God! the whole human race would not move 
in that direction if confronted with such a chal- 
lenge! There would still be a great multitude who 
would stand where they were under such interroga- 
tion ! 



The Plus of Huma/nity 55 

And to those who were left so standing, suppose 
we should again lift up a mighty voice, and say: 
"Oh, all ye people who are best pleased with what 
3^ou can see, step out!'^ And again there would be 
a mighty rushing from the ranks of those who re- 
mained after the first call for a division. We all 
like to "see things." Even a dog-fight is never with- 
out interested witnesses ! And so, many would leave 
the ranks who best liked to see! 

But not all would go ! 

And if, to those who still remained, we should lift 
up a mighty, voice again, and say: "Oh, all ye 
people who are best pleased with what you can hear, 
step out !" There would be a great leaving of more 
who had, so far, declined all invitations to move. 

But not all would go ! 

There would still be left a goodly company, and 
these would be those who are hest pleased with what 
they can think! 

Such an experience as I have just depicted would 
be a self-determined division of humanity which would 
be the equal of "Judgment Day," in advance, and 
there is no denying its f orcefulness ! 

But let us never forget that, though all this may 
be true, the fact remains that the progress of hu- 
manity is always increasing the number of those 
at the small end of this wedge of human beings — 
that it is forever augmenting the ranks of the think- 
ers from those of the hearers; and those of the hear- 



56 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

ers from those of the seers; and those of the seers 
from those of the eaters! 

It is these facts that make life worth living. Let 
us not forget this when we are inclined to get blue 
about the status of our fellow men! 

One point more, and we will be done with the 
plus of humanity as it pertains to the physical appe- 
tite for food, which exists in mankind. 

Because there are gluttons, in the world, because 
there are men and women who will gorge themselves 
to the extent of grossest greediness if they can get 
choice foods to do the same withal; nay, more, be- 
cause the great majority of mankind are still best 
pleased with what they can eat, forsooth — for these 
reasons, shall we say that the best, or, indeed, the 
only way to remedy such condition is to try to ex- 
terminate physical appetite in men and women, or to 
reduce it to its lowest terms of mere animality, to 
merely that of keeping bodies alive and in condition 
to breed? 

Because some men and women abuse the plus that 
has been added to humanity in the matter of eating 
and drinking, shall we therefore strive to abolish this 
increment altogether? Because some of the results 
that have come from the gratification of human de- 
sires for better food, as the imagination of man and 
his ingenuity have acted in response to such ambi- 
tions, and so have modified crude fruits and grains 
and raw meats to suit the educated tastes of man- 



The Plus of Humanity 57 

kind — because some of the results are not the best 
that could be desired, shall we, for these reasons, at- 
tempt to root out all such desires in mankind, ban all 
exercise of the imagination along these lines, and 
legally forbid man's ingenuity to devise or prepare 
any meats and drinks other than such as brutes par- 
take of? 

Must cook-books be suppressed by law, and must 
those who make them or sell them be put in prison, 
because there are men and women who will eat till 
they die of apoplexy if the viands which these books 
give recipes for are placed within their reach? 

But let us not anticipate ! We shall see more of 
this phase of the subject later on, and at much closer 
range, and then it will mean much more than it does 
here and now. Meantime, while we wait, this is as 
good a place as any to consider a wholesale prin- 
ciple of life which has been claimed by many to apply, 
not only to man's physical appetite for food, but to 
other functions of the human body, as follows: 

Frankly and impartially stated, the very heart of 
this principle is seated in a view of the human body 
which held that it is by nature vile and altogether 
contemptible in all its parts and passions. Accord- 
ing to this mode of reckoning, it was believed that 
our bodies were "conceived in sin and born in in- 
iquity," and the theory was that, as they began, so 
they continued to grow till death put an end to their 
naturally perverted and altogether wicked existence ! 



58 Children hy Chance or by Choice 

Under such conditions, the believer in this doctrine 
held that the chief purpose in life, if one desired to 
become what one ought to be, was to "mortify the 
flesh" and to inhibit all the natural desires of the 
body, because they were, in and of themselves, smful, 
and tended to drag down, if not ultimately damn 
human souls, irrevocably. 

Such views of the human body have been held by 
nearly all peoples, and in nearly all times, but they 
assumed the most pronounced form in the early 
stages of the development of the Christian religion ; 
and the results of such teachings and practises in 
this particular religious sect have affected a large 
percentage of the beliefs and modes of living of the 
civilize'd Christian world, even to this day. 

There is no need of going into details, for such are 
not only matters of history which are known and 
read of all intelligent men and women, but we are, 
all of us, to a greater or less extent, living witnesses 
of the influence of such beliefs regarding the human 
body. This is specially true of all that has to do 
with what is counted as "good morality" in the civil- 
ized world; and if one pushes the point far enough, 
the principle will be found to be embodied in man}' 
of the aff^airs of life where a superficial glance would 
not detect its presence. 

But in the light of more generous views of, and 
more scientific knowledge regarding the bodies in 
which we live, move and have our being, honest inter- 



The Plus of Humanity 59 

rogation marks are being set up over against the 
ascetic and Puritanic beliefs of former days, and 
these challenge the truthfulness of many, not to say 
most, of what were once regarded as beyond contro- 
versy in these matters. More and more, thoughtful 
men and women are coming to realize that the human 
body is God-made and sacred within and without, 
and to hold with the Good Gray Poet, when he says : 
"Clear and clean is my soul; and clear and clean is 
my body, and every part of the same ; and no part 
shall be condemned, nor shall any be preferred be- 
fore the rest." 

It is such views of human life and of human bodies 
and their functionings which make a place for the 
out-workings of "the plus of humanity" along the 
lines of the normal development of this part of man's 
being ; and the doctrine that it is a sin to give expres- 
sion to this plus, nay, to cultivate its reasonable ful- 
fillment, is being relegated to the grave-yard of other 
dead things which have come down to the present 
from the days of ignorance and superstition. 

According to this newly-developed philosophy, it 
was not a sin for you to sit at meat with us as you 
did, nor for our table to be what it was, nor for all 
the plus of our natures to find expression as it did 
during dinner. We were within the bounds of right 
living to do as we did; and for us all, being what 
we are, it would have been a sin for us to wipe out 
all the accessories which we utilized, both for sus- 



60 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

tainmg our bodies with food that pleased our palates 
and for feeding our higher faculties with mental and 
spiritual pabulum that the brutes know not of. Made 
as we are, it would be wicked for us to live on raw 
meat and unground grain, fed into our mouths with 
fingers and thumbs! Who that is sane can deny 
this? 

And the most significant factor in all this, so far 
as any ultimate conclusion is concerned, is the fact 
that there are two modes of expression, in the matter 
of physical appetite for food as it exists in human 
beings, while there is only one mode of expression for 
this possession as it exists in mere animals ! With 
the latter, the sole function of this quality is bodily 
sustenance, merely. In mankind it is all of this ; 
and, beyond that, the building up of the plus of 
humanity. Furthermore, the exercise of both these 
functions, as they exist in mankind, is a matter of 
choice, within the control of the will, a factor which 
does not appear, in any perceptible degree, in any 
order of life below man. This fact makes it impos- 
sible to draw any truthful analogies between man and 
the lower animals, so far as life on these planes is 
concerned, as I have more than once declared. It 
may still be feasible to compare some of the minor 
functionings of the human body with the same, or 
similar, phenomena in lower orders of life, though 
even this has its limitations ; but in all cases where 
choice and the human will are in evidence — here all 



The Plus of Humanity gl 

such comparisons are practically impossible, so far 
as correct conclusions derived therefrom are con- 
cerned. 

So, here endeth the lesson as it pertains to the 
plus of humanity, which has to do with physical 
appetite in mankind. I have shown that there has 
been a progress in this part of man's experiences, 
from the primitive man up to our table, and yours 
as well; and that all of such advance has come to 
me and to you, whoever you are, at the hands of 
the power of choice, as it exists in all mankind, rather 
than by the ways of chance, or oi outside dictation 
(that is, by instinct, merely) which method obtains 
in all life-forms below man ; that all this progress 
manifests itself in two ways in the human family; 
and that, therefore, analogies between such forms of 
life and all forms below it are fallacious and of no 
value whatever. 

Desire, imagvnation, human ingenuity! Keep these 
three means of human progress in mind as we move 
on. And never for one moment forget that these 
are all grounded in choice rather than in chance! 

In all forms of life below man, physical appetite 
serves only the simple purpose of constructively 
maintaining the material existence of the beings in 
which it exists. In mankind, this quality still per- 
sists in its original purpose and mode of. expression, 
but it takes on an added quality, which is of an 
esthetical or spiritual nature, whose end and aim it 



6S Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

is to upbuild the plus of humanity and develop the 
same in all its varied possibilities. That is, physical 
appetite for food, as it lives in human beings is, 
first materially constructive; and, second, esthetic- 
ally and spiritually uphuUding in its results. And 
this means more than can be comprehended at a sin- 
gle sitting with the thought ! 



CHAPTER V 

FURTHER STUDIES OF THE PLUS OE HUMANITY 

Having studied the plus of humanity as it is ex- 
hibited in physical appetite for food, let us now go 
on a little further and see how this same principle, 
the added something, applies to some other qualities 
which we share with the life-forms below us. 

Take the sense of eye-sight and compare its func- 
tion, as it expresses itself in beasts and men, and 
note the plus that there is in this particular. 

If we go back to the most primitive form of an 
eye, we find that it first shows signs of existence in 
the protozoa, where it appears in what is known 
as a "pigment spot," that is, as a tiny part of the 
body of such life-form, which is sensitive to light. 
Just what service is thus rendered to the body on 
which this "spot" appears, no one has as yet been 
able to determine ; but that it is there, and that it is 
the primary form of what finally becomes a human 
ej^e, as it climbs on and up the various stages of 
its evolution, of this there is not a shadow of doubt. 

And now trace, for a little, the function of the eye 
and what it brings to its possessor, as it rises in the 

63 



64 Children hy Chance or by Choice 

scale of organized life-forms ! As I have already 
said, in the lowest forms of life its mission is so 
slight that it is indeterminable. But gradually its 
utility grows, until, in a large part of animal life 
it serves a number of most valuable purposes. 
Summed up, its usefulness in most life-forms below 
man, is to show its possessors where to find food, and 
to keep them from dangers that may threaten their 
lives. All mere animals may be said to find their 
sustenance and to be kept out of harm's way by 
means of their eyesight. 

But when we have said so much we have said all 
that can possibly be said with regard to the func- 
tion of eyesight as it pertains to mere animal life ! 
There is absolutely nothing beyond food supply and 
preservation from physical harm and perhaps death, 
received at the hands of eyesight, in any life-form 
below man ! Think of that a full minute by the clock 
before you read on ! 

But when we come to man, see what a range 
eyesight has in him ! In this realm there is almost 
no limit to what it may do for its possessor ! 

To be sure, it is still a means of showing man 
where and how to get his food, and of keeping him 
out of harm's way, just as in the life-forms below 
him ; but, oh, how small a part of the mission of eye- 
sight in humanity this is ! Think of that a moment ! 
And here are some of the things you will think : 

Perhaps, first of all, there is the influence that 



Further Studies of the Plus of Humanity 65 

comes to man from seeing the things in nature that 
mean more to him than they can possibly mean to 
any form of life below him. What do you suppose 
a sunset ever means to a cow or a dog? Yet cows and 
dogs have eyes — eyes which in some respects are 
better than human eyes, viewed from a mere mechan- 
ical standpoint. 

And then think of how much a human being can 
get out of pictures ! Mere animals can get nothing 
— absolutely nothing — from pictures ! But men and 
women can get ever so much out of pictures ! And 
whatever they get out of pictures is just so much 
''plus of humanity'^ on the eyesight basis ! 

And then think of what we get out of reading! 
Reading is made possible through the use of the eye. 
All letters, all literature, have come at the bidding 
of possibilities that were opened up by the fact of 
the existence of the human eye. 

Think of the plus that has come to humanity at 
the hands of reading, and then see what this added 
quality means to mankind! The measure of this 
increment to human development and possession is 
absolutely without bounds. 

And sailors sail the sea by virtue of eyesight. If 
Columbus had been born without eyes he would never 
have discovered America. If Titian had been unable 
to see, the world would never have known his divine 
work upon canvas. If eyes could never have read. 
Homer, and Virgil, and Dante, and Shakespeare, 



66 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

and Milton, and Dickens, and Thackeray, and Whit- 
man, and Emerson, and Thoreau, and Riley, and 
Mark Twain, and thousands of others could never 
have been what they were, could never have exercised 
an influence upon mankind, in any way whatsoever. 

If men could not see, newspapers and magazines 
would be impossible ; no trains could run ; no fabrics 
could be woven ; no wires could be strung ; no machin- 
ery could be made or operated ; no pictures could be 
painted ; no photographs could be taken ; no movies 
could be produced; no stars could be seen, and no 
inferences could be drawn from their existence in the 
firmament ; no faces could be looked into, and the 
"love-light in the eye" would never be possible; the 
mother's look of rapture as she gazes on her child 
could never be ; the untold meanings of the exchange 
of glances between lovers would be impossible; and 
even a dim comprehension of "the light that never 
was on land or sea" would be an utter impossibility 
without the experiences that have come to man 
through the exercise of eyesight ! 

Now, you who read what is here written, put all 
these things just enumerated together, and as many 
more as your own sense can supply, and let your 
imagination raise the sum total to the nth degree, 
and then you will have at least some comprehension 
of the ^'plus of humanity^' that has come to man 
through the medium of the human eye! You will 
then understand that the eye, as men can use it. 



Further Studies of the Plus of Humanity 67 

yields up returns that are far greater and infinitely 
above anything that any mere animal eyes can ever 
produce. The mere items of seeing where food is, 
and of keeping one out of the ditch, have dwindled 
to nothingness when compared with all these plusses 
that man has acquired because of his ability to see. 

Just animals can see ; but man can see more than 
mere material things whose limit of utility is to keep 
bodies in their proper places ! His sight penetrates 
beyond eyesight, and into the vast beyond; and all 
that he sees beyond mere materiality is what makes 
up the plu^ of humanity, so far as seeing is con- 
cerned. 

And note, too, that, just as the physical appetite 
for food has two modes of expression in the human 
family, namely, the materially-constructive and the 
esthetically-upbuilding ; in a similar manner, eyesight 
in mankind serves a double purpose, the first of which 
is physically-preservative merely, and the second 
esthetically-developing. And this is another item 
whose full force cannot be defined at a single sitting 
with the thought. 

Once more, let us take up and consider the sense 
of hearing and note what a plus of humanity there 
is in the exercise of this faculty which man has in 
common with the life which is below him. 

I need not go into details at any length here. If 
you will shut your eyes and listen, you will know more 
than I or any could suggest or say! Think of the 



6S Children by Chance or by Choice 

ocean's roar, the sighing of the night-winds, the 
songs of birds and hum of bees, the laughter of chil- 
dren, the whisper of love, the prayer of a child, the 
orator's eloquence, the prima donna's trills, the moth- 
er's lullaby, the violin's sweet strains, the diapason 
of the organ, the voice of great crowds as they sing 
or cheer together — think of these sotmds that come 
to you through your ears, and then remember what 
they mean, when measured by the standard of the 
plus of humanity! 

Nor need one think of sweet sounds only in sum- 
ming up the total all that comes to man through 
hearing. Even wails of woe and suffering react on 
man and make him kindlier, gentler, than before; 
and battle cries, and maniac yells, and drunkards' 
maudlin talk — yea, oaths and curses, and dying 
moans, all may be used as a means for building up 
the life of man in the economy of human growth. 

But none of these can ever come to mere beasts! 
Ears have they, but they hear not, as man's ears 
hear ! No thrill of thankfulness comes to such when 
they are conscious of 

"That blessedest, best sound 
That ever greeted human ear — < 
The boat-keels grating on the shore !" 

Beethoven's Fifth Symphony is to these like any 
other noise ! No "concord of sweet sounds" can stir 



Further Studies of the Plus of Humanity 69 

emotions in the breasts of beasts and birds, much 
less in flowers and trees, and lesser still in stones and 
mud! 

But these suggestions need not be too extended. 
We all know what and how they are. And we all 
know, too, if we stop to think about it, that all these 
significant sounds, and all they signify together with 
all the feelings and emotions they arouse, make up 
the plus of humanity as it exists through what man- 
kind can hear, but which no form of life below him 
can ever be conscious of, at least not to the extent 
of reacting therefrom ! 

Having pointed out these plusses that come to 
humanity by means of eyes and ears, let us go on 
with some conclusions that follow, as we did when 
studying physical appetite for food in man. In 
that case, we saw how the desire of man for better 
food stimulated his imagination, which in turn acted 
upon his vngenuity, and as a result of all these potent 
forces working, each after each, all the progress in 
human eating and drinking, and all that goes with 
the exercise of these qualities was realized. 

By exactly the same process has the plus of hu- 
manity been exploited in the matter of eyesight. The 
desire of man set him longing to see more than animal 
eyes could see. His imagination took up such de- 
sires and elaborated them, and dreamed what things 
might be in these regards ; and then man's ingenuity 



70 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

responded to what imagination had pictured as pos- 
sible, and from these sources have come all the even- 
tualities that now delight the eye of man ! 

And what is true of the plus of humanity pertain- 
ing to eyesight, is equally true regarding what desire 
and imagination and ingenuity have wrought out for 
men and women in the realm of sound, of tone, and 
all the arts that are based upon capabilities of the 
human ear! 

These three factors which make for human prog- 
ress, namely, desire, imagination and ingenuity ; this 
trvnity of forces, has made a plus of humanity which 
is so much beyond all the attainments of mere ani- 
mality that these latter must be counted as of little 
corresponding worth! That is, the additions that 
have been made to the original possessions of man- 
kind far exceed in value the qualities they were added 
to ! Think of that, more than once, for it is some- 
thing we shall come back to most tellingly at the 
proper time, and in the proper place ! 

Once more : Think, please, of the help to eyes and 
ears that has come to mankind at the hands of human 
desire and imagi/rmtion and ingenuity! How you 
start, not to say rebound from the rush of thought 
that comes to you at the mere suggestion of such 
helps as have come to the human race from this 
source, as they have been applied to the plus of hu- 
manity! I need not enumerate these helps to any 
length, for they will march before you in an endless 



Further Studies of the Plus of Humanity 71 

procession if only you will follow your own thoughts 
regarding them. But here are a few of these aids 
to e^^es and ears, which have revealed secrets that 
would have forever remained hidden from human ken 
but for such assistance ; have made an open book 
out of what would otherwise have been an everlast- 
ingly sealed volume ; have let clear daylight in where 
once all was darkness and the unknown ! 

In this list of eye-helpers, here are the glasses 
astride my nose, which make my old eyes as good as 
new again, as strong and clear as they ever were, 
and without which I could not write a single one of 
the words you are now reading. And my doctor 
looked clear through me, even into the innermost 
parts of my being, a few days ago, with the help of 
an X-ray light ; and with the assistance of a micro- 
scope I have seen what was totally invisible to my 
naked eye. And I once "saw stars" through a great 
telescope, till the multitude and the magnitude of 
them struck me dumb from amazement, and stunned 
me more completely than would a blow on my head 
with a hammer ! 

I need not go on with this eye-helper list, though 
what I have given is only a portion of what might be 
enumerated. 

And then, think of the ear-helpers. They include 
all the "phones" of all sorts and descriptions what- 
soever. All "phones" are ear-helpers as all the 
"scopes" are eye-helpers. 



7^ Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

By one of these ear-helpers I talked with a man, 
an hour ago, and the chairs we sat on as we spoke 
together were two thousand miles apart! Our ears 
were "helped" to that extent! 

And jou are not in the least surprised as I tell you 
this, for you have done similar things more than 
once — yes, an uncounted number of times ; not quite 
so pronounced, perhaps, but practically the same ex- 
perience. And so your ears were helped, as mine 
were, and as everybody's may he! Think of that even 
to the limit of what it means, with the accent on 
EVERYBODY! 

To make a climax of this thought, call to mind 
all the "scope" words, and the "phone" words, and 
the "graph" words that the dictionary contains, and 
then remember that all these words connote some 
help to eye or ear, that has come to mankind on the 
plus side of his make-up, not by chance, but rather as 
a result of choice, and then you will have some idea 
of what the desire of man, and his imagination and 
his ingenuity have wrought out for the progress and 
betterment of the race — for increasing the sum total 
of the plus of humanity on its eye and ear side. 

And when you have realized something of what 
and how much all this means, will you call to mind 
the words I quoted many pages back, words which 
were written by a body of learned doctors, and which 
were: "We must uphold the laws of nature against 
man*s meddling!" But let us not anticipate! 



Further Sttidies of the Plus of Humanity 73 

Still, I must ask, just here, if the helpmg of human 
faculties to realize possibilities which thej could not 
otherwise attain to — if this is "meddling with na- 
ture's laws?" But more of this later. 

And it is worthy of special mention, that, as re- 
gards the two-fold manner of expression of all the 
qualities that mankind possesses in common with low- 
er orders of life, the second method far exceeds the 
first in promoting the progress of humanity! It is 
in the exercise of what belongs to the plus of human- 
ity in physical appetite for food, in eyesight and in 
hearing, that growth and development in human be- 
ings find their greatest stimulus to become more and 
more. That is, the animality of what we possess in 
common with lower life-forms is the lesser half of 
such belongings, so far as the results which come 
from their expression are concerned ; and the higher 
man ascends in the scale of spiritual life, the smaller 
and of less value becomes the animality that is still 
a fundamental part of his make-up. It is equally 
true that, as the material part of man grows less 
and less, the plus that has grown out of it, and 
which is still seated in it, becomes more and more su- 
preme both in force and in intrinsic value. 

This is a principle which holds good with regard 
to all the qualities and characteristics which man has 
in common with mere animal life. Verhum sat! 



CHAPTER VI 



THE THREE IS 



The three I's which I am going to consider in this 
chapter are Instinct, Impulse and Intuition, and I 
take up their special study, just here, because definite 
thinking regarding them is essential to the further, 
and especially the final conclusions which I am aim- 
ing at. 

In defining these words, and in the applications I 
make of them as they stand related to my theme, 
I may differ somewhat from current ideas as to 
what these several combinations of vowels and con- 
sonants stand for; but I shall try to make my own 
conception of their significance clear, and shall be 
equally explicit in the use to which I put their mean- 
ings ; and hence there will be no danger of misun- 
derstanding in what I have to say — which is really 
the main thing. 

All these powers, or qualities which are indicated 
by these three words, have much to do with, or are 
greatly involved in, the outworkings of the life-force, 
as it expresses itself in time and space. What I wish 
to point out is something of the nature of each, of 

74 



The Three Fs 75 

the mission of each, and of the purpose that each 
serves in the different and varied organisms, or life- 
forms, which each has to do with in this world. 

Instmct: I speak of mstmct first because it is tne 
most primary of all these qualities, and it exercises 
an influence upon a greater number of life-forms, 
both as to multitude and variety, than do either of 
the others. 

In speaking of what is included in this word, in- 
stinct, I want to confine its meaning to a somewhat 
narrower range than that given it by some others. 
Indeed, the dictionaries give it a wider meaning than 
it seems to me it is rightly entitled to when they 
make it a synonym for "intellect" and "intelligence." 
My own belief is that instinct, per se, has very little, 
if anything, in common with either intellect or vntel- 
ligence, when we come to the exact meaning of these 
words. And here is what makes me hold to such 
opinion : 

Some wise Hindoo philosopher has defined instinct 
in a way that better describes its real significance 
than I have ever seen elsewhere expressed. He says : 
"Instinct is the totality of life's efforts to preserve 
itself in material form." The point I call particular 
attention to in this definition is, that it confines the 
actions and influences of instinct entirely to the ma- 
terial plane, dealing only with material means, and 
producing only material results. This is an item of 



T6 Children by Chance or by Choice 

the utmost significance in the subject we are now 
studying. 

Perhaps it may tend to make this quality stand 
out more clearly in its real nature, to say that it 
is iio integral part of the life-form which it inhabits, 
so to speak. That is, it is in, but not of the organ- 
ism upon which it acts. It is in this essential respect 
that it differs from impulse and intuition, as I shall 
presently show. 

The chief characteristics of instinct are that it 
compels the acts which it originates, and that all 
the deeds that are done at its bidding are enacted 
according to a must and not to a may or can. 
That is, the element of choice, which, you will re- 
member, is the chief item I am talking about, has 
nothing in common with instinct! 

Let us illustrate: Birds build their nests by in- 
stinct. But they have no choice in their way and 
manner of building! Indeed, it is even doubtful if 
they even choose a place or a spot for locating their 
nests. The probabilities are that the same power 
that enables them to build their nests, directs them 
where to place them to best suit the purpose they 
are to serve. Where this power comes from, and how 
it is hitched up to the organisms which utilize it are 
not any part of this discussion. I am studying 
what it does, and how it does it, and not whence it 
came or whither it goes ! 

I say birds build their nests by instinct, and it is 



The Three Vs 77 

a curious fact that they do this just as well the first 
time as the last. And they never have to be taught 
how to do the work, in either case ! True, different 
kinds of birds build different sorts of nests ; but 
each kind builds its particular nest in the same 
way, ever and always. Later generations make no 
improvements upon the earlier forms which their an- 
cestors constructed, but over and over, the same 
thing in the same way — this is always the manner 
of work that is done at the bidding or command of 
instinct. 

That is, instinct makes no progress, either in the 
work that is done at its bidding, or in the life-forms 
that do that work. It acts upon, or through, a 
life-form, and produces results which are of service 
to the form it controls ; but that form has no power 
other than to follow its dictates, to obey its abso- 
lute commands. 

All of which means that creatures of instinct are 
guided by an intelligence which does not originate 
in, or emanate from, the form which gives it expres- 
sion. The point I want to bear down on, and to 
have you be sure to keep in mind is, that creatures 
which are guided by instinct are not creatures of 
choice, in so far as their acts are instinctive. That 
is, as I have said before, instinct and choice have no 
common factor. Instinct is grounded in must, it 
knows nothing of may or can. 

Impulse: The derivation of the word impulse 



78 Children by Chance or by Choice 

gives the key to its essential meaning, and furnishes 
a hint as to how it differs from instinct. If you will 
think of the word impel which has the same root as 
the word impulse, you may be helped to catch its 
true significance. In both these words there is the 
idea of throwing, or pushing, of movement or mo- 
tion which may be resisted, or may be let run ! 

And now notice the something which appears in 
such condition which has no place in the case of 
instinct. When one is moved to action by instinct, 
he must do as he does; but when one is impelled to 
do this or that, he may do it or not, as he chooses! 
And there is all the difference in the world between 
these two conditionings ! The one introduces the 
possibility of exercising the power of choice. The 
other knows nothing of such factor as a determining 
force resulting in action. 

And right in there is where the infinite difference 
between man and the animals below him obtains ! 
Animals are creatures of instinct alone. Man is a 
creature of instinct, m some respects; that is, to a 
degree, in the part of himself which is merely ani- 
mal; and here it has to do only with the material 
part of man, and never rises into the plane of his 
mental and spiritual being, in its activities; and 
hence, so far as the plus in man is concerned, 
with thisy vnstvnct has little or nothing whatever to 
do ! Drive a peg there ! 

Again: Nothing that is done at the bidding of 



The Three Vs 79 

instinct, merely, ever results in character! And 
there is another wonderful thing to think about! 
Character is built up by the exercise of the power 
of choice. Animals cannot choose, and so they have 
no characters — that is, they are not possessed of an 
individual something of their own, which they have 
acquired from an expenditure of energy which they 
put forth by means of their own will. But man can 
choose. He can follow an impulse or he can reject 
it. And it is by his decisions as to which of these he 
will do that he builds himself a character. 

Now, character can only be built out of the stuff 
that is included in the plus of humanity. It can 
never be formed out of mere materiality, or by any 
action of that which works in the realm of the ma- 
terial alone. All there is in man which is below the 
line of that plus, and which is ruled by instinct 
alone, can never result in character. 

True, as has just been said, man has in him, in 
some degree, that which is instinctive ! He has come 
up through the life-forms below him, and much of 
what they were made of still sticks to him. But the 
material part of man is one thing, and the mental 
and spiritual part is another, and an entirely dif- 
ferent thing. 

All mankind begins life in the realm of vnstvnci. 
The baby does not have to be taught to suck milk 
from its mother any more than a kitten or a calf 
does. And so it gains no character from its suck- 



80 Children by Chance or by Choice 

ing! It simply responds to a physical appetite for 
food, reduced to its lowest terms, namely, to keep 
itself alive, and instinct compels it to yield to its 
dictates in this regard. That is, at this stage of 
man's being, life's efforts are solely to maintain it- 
self in material form. In other words, all human 
beings begin life on the animal plane! 

But as the child grows and begins to yield to, 
or reject its impvlses which its desires suggest, its 
imagination pictures and its ingenuity makes pos- 
sible of realization, that is, as he chooses in these 
matters by an exercise of his will, by such acts he 
forms an individuality, a personality, a character 
which is all his own, and which no mere animal can 
ever attain to. And all of this is wrought out on 
the plane of the plus of humanity! 

I hope I have made a clear distinction between 
the meanings of the words vnsti/tict and impulse as 
I shall use them later on in this discussion. I have 
been obliged to define them as carefully as I have, 
because of the loose way in which these words are 
used, even in the best of good circles. For instance, 
in one of the best of English dictionaries, I find 
this : "Instimct is a natural impulse.''^ No ! That 
won't do, at least not for this discussion. Instinct 
is one thing, and impulse is another thing, in what 
I am talking about, namely, the plus of humanity. 
Within the realm of this attainment in man, instinct 
has nothing whatever to do. But with it impulse has 






The Three Vs 81 

much to do, for it offers the possibility of exercis- 
ing the power of choice, and the exercise of this 
power makes for progress, and progress is the pur- 
pose of all human life! 

Once more: Since the major half of all the quali- 
ties which man and animals have in common has, to 
a great extent, as I have already shown, been lifted 
out of the plane of mere animalism and promoted 
into the realm of the plus of humanity, it follows 
that instinct is no longer a sufficient guide for the 
control and extension of these qualities. All that has 
to do with the plus of humanity is capable of prog- 
ress, of improvement. But insti/nct does not make for 
progress. It requires impulse, rectified by choice, 
by a direct act of the will, to result in betterment, 
in growth. 

And this means that everything that impulse has 
to do with is capable of improvement through educa- 
tion. But instinct does not educate; and to leave to 
instinct the management of elements in the human 
make-up which should be under the control of the 
will, which should be guided by choice, is to make a 
gross and grave mistake. And gross and grave mis- 
takes always have to be paid for, times over ! 

So much for instinct and impulse. 

Intuition: The derivation of this word intuition 
will help its understanding. Considered in this way, 
it means "taught from within." In some respects it 
is like instinct, namely, that, in a way, it seems to be 



82 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

in rather than of the body it inhabits. And, again, 
it does not have to be taught, to be educated. In- 
deed, the probabilities are that attempts to educate 
intuition do more harm than good ! 

This quality is possessed to a higher degree by 
women than by men, and it is especially manifest in 
geniuses of all sorts and descriptions. It enables 
its possessor to know things without learning them 
by laborious processes, and to do things without 
much thinking about the way or the means of accom- 
plishing desired results. 

But there is one respect in which it differs mate- 
rially from instinct, namely, that it practically re- 
quires of its possessor a judgment as to whether its 
teachings are correct or not. That is, intuition is 
not an infallible guide — surely not, as it exists in 
most of us. We cannot trust it implicitly, as the 
bird can trust its instinct implicitly. And that is 
why we have to judge its promptings. 

In this respect, i/ntuition is much more like impidse 
than it is like instinct, and its usefulness as a charac- 
ter-former comes from this manner of its working. 
Its utilization in the economy of human life involves 
the use of the will and the exercise of the power of 
choice, and that is what brings it into the realm of 
the plus of humanity, and makes it a valuable asset 
in the program of mankind. 

There are those who claim that intuition is to 
mankind what instinct is to animals, and in some re- 



I 



The Three Vs 83 

spects, as I have already intimated, this is true. 
Both these qualities have a common characteristic 
■ — that they do not take their rise from an initial 
will-exercise on the part of their possessors. They 
lead to, or compel actions, rather than suggest them 
merely, as is the case with imptdse, and in this re- 
gard they are much alike. 

But there is one great difference between instmct 
and mtuitioTiy as follows: Instinct is universal in 
its applications, as it were ; that is, it is a constant 
factor in all the actions of the beings it controls. 
Intuition, on the other hand, is sporadic, or partial, 
in its appearance and work, and only controls a 
part, or perhaps a few, of the acts of the individuals 
in which it manifests itself. Where it is truly pres- 
ent, it is often all-powerful and may be left to a safe 
supremacy. But it is not always present in man- 
kind, as instinct is always present in animals. 

The result of this is that creatures which are gov- 
erned by instinct never need to be taught along any 
of the lines on which this faculty is their constant 
and natural guide ; and this includes practically all 
their native doings. On the other hand, since intui- 
tion is only partial in its presence and workings, 
wherever it is lacking the individual must be taught 
what to do and how to do it. He must be given 
the benefit of the former experiences of his kind by 
careful, intelligent instruction, and not left to shift 
for himself in ways that he knows not of intuitively. 



84 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

On all the lines of life on which any individual has 
intuitive knowedge, he can readily and safely go his 
own gait, without aid or assistance from any, but 
such manifestations are only partial, at best, in any 
one personality, so far as their number is concerned, 
and wherever they are not present, there, the indi- 
vidual needs instruction and help from others, to 
be taught and guided by the former experiences of 
those who have gone over the road which he must 
travel; who know the way, and so can point it out 
to those who come after. 

This is a most vital difference between instmct 
and intuition, as they apply to human life and ac- 
tions as we shall see later. As a special factor in 
the realms included in this study, that is, in the plus 
of humanity, intuition manifests itself in what are 
known as "affinities," of which more definite treat- 
ment will be given at the proper time and place. 

Instinct, Impulse, Intuition; Desire, Imagination, 
Ingenuity : — To have clear ideas regarding these 
six factors that have to do with the out-workings 
of the life-force as it manifests itself in the human 
family in this world, is absolutely essential to suc- 
cess in comprehending the problems which all prog- 
ress presents, and much more in solving these same 
problems as they appear in so many and in such 
varied forms. 



CHAPTER VII 

SOMETHING OF WHAT ALL THESE THINGS HAVE TO DO 
WITH CHILDREN BY CHANCE OR BY CHOICE 

That it is possible for children to be broijght into 
this world by choice rather than by chance is a fact 
that is well known by all intelligent people. And will 
you stop and think for a minute that man is the 
only created being in which this possibility exists ! 
Mere animals have no choice whatsoever as to how 
many offspring they shall produce, or when and un- 
der what circumstances their descendants shall come 
into this world. 

In all these realms of life-forms, matings which 
result in reproduction are only possible under pre- 
determined conditions, and with these conditions, 
the individual will of the parties concerned has 
nothing whatever to do. They have no choice what- 
ever in the premises. They do as they must and not 
at all as they may. The whole affair is governed 
and controlled by instinct alone, and with it neither 
impulse nor intuition has anything whatsover to do. 

And it is because of these facts that the whole 
affair of reproduction, in the human species, is lifted 

85 



86 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

above the plane of mstinct, and rises into the realm 
of a governable impulse, a condition wherein choice 
becomes possible and the human will is a factor to 
be reckoned with. These conditions show that this 
part of man's life, namely, the reproductive part, 
and all that pertains thereto, belongs in the realm 
of the plus of humanity, and not in the plane of 
mere animalityl And when we have that point es- 
tablished, we see how futile, not to say criminal, it 
is to longer hold to the doctrine that the bringing 
of children into time and space should be left to in- 
stinct, and that the laws of hfe that obtain in the 
lower forms of being should be declared as applica- 
ble to human beings! Moreover, these facts force 
one to ask the question: Shall attempts which are 
made to better conditions with regard to human 
reproduction be counted as "meddling'' with nature's 
laws? And the reply which cannot be other than 
correct must be : As well say that the whole science 
and art of obstetrics is "meddling with nature's 
laws" as to say that the science and art of repro- 
duction of the human species, under the control of 
the human will (that is, by choice) is tampering 
with what ought to be let alone! Such answer is 
only good common sense, and in our heart of hearts, 
we know that it is true. 

As well say that, because mere animals require 
no assistance in parturition, therefore human moth- 
ers should be left to shift for themselves when their 



Something About Children by Chance or Choice 87 

birth-pangs come! And, to be really honest about 
it, even such teaching as this has not been without 
its advocates in days gone by ! Worse than all, such 
doctrine has been held and taught by those who 
were supposed to be engaged in building up and 
bettering humanity, namely, those who were the re- 
ligious leaders of the race! For ages it was held 
by good religious people that because our mother, 
Eve, ate the apple and was cursed therefor, that, for 
this reason, all women were forever doomed "in sor- 
row to bring forth" children, and that any attempt 
to lessen such sorrow and suffering was acting con- 
trary to God's purpose, and "meddling with nature's 
laws!" It does not seem possible, viewed in the 
light of modern obstetrical practice, that such a 
condition could ever have existed, but it did exist ! 

But now that old order is passing away, and a 
new order is superseding it. Choice^ rather than 
chance, has taken its place at the bedside of human 
births, greatly to the benefit of all parties concerned ; 
and by the same token, the old order of begetting 
children by chance shall one day pass, and be num- 
bered among the things that were; and in its stead 
shall come a new order of conception by choice, of 
fatherhood and motherhood by a deliberate exercise 
of the human will, rather than at the hands of 
chance and of animal instinct merely ! 

If the .plws of humanity means anything, it must 
mean this ; and that it does mean just this, there 



88 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

can be no shadow of doubt in any thoughtful mind. 
The great question is, how shall such righteous and 
rightful conditions be brought about and made ef- 
fective ? 

And let no one say that it is an impossible task 
that is thus presented, simply because conditions are 
as they now are, and the means of making them bet- 
ter are so difficult to handle that the outcomes must 
be generations away. The hardest lesson man has 
to learn is to "patiently wait." Theodore Parker 
once said that the one great difference between God 
and himself was that The Almighty was never in a 
hurry, and he was ! 

It may help us to be patient under the circum- 
stances, to remember that it was two hundred and 
fifty years after the discovery that the earth is 
round before the fact was acknowledged in insti- 
tutions which were counted as leaders of truth for 
mankind! It was much more than a century after 
Franklin lured electricity from the clouds before 
this force was utilized by mankind, made to light up 
the dark places of the earth, turn millions of wheels, 
and run on errands under the sea and through the 
sky. It takes time for things to grow, often a long 
time. "Presto, pass !" are the words of a fakir, but 
they are not Nature's words, nor God's words! So 
it is no reason why the stud3^ of this great problem 
should not be undertaken because of the difficulties 
that are involved in its solution, or the probability 



Something About Children by Chance or Choice 89 

that its correct answer will be so long in the finding. 

When we look this problem squarely in the face, 
and read it and analyze it so as to get at the very 
core of its meaning, we find that, while it propounds 
a great number of highly interesting and important 
questions, as the subjects it presents are seen from 
different points of view, yet the fundamental item 
on all counts is located in one great issue, namely: 
7^ it in accordance with the rightful order of human 
development that sex should serve any other purpose 
for the human race thorn, that of reproduction? I 
write the question in this particular form for those 
who prefer to consider the issue from a purely scien- 
tific standpoint. But because there are many who 
would rather view it from another angle (if they 
will seriously think of what it really means at all) 
I will put the question into other words, as follows: 
"Was it God*s intent i/n making man that sex in the 
human famUy should serve any other purpose than 
that of reproduction?" 

Now, I ask you, whoever you are who read the 
questions I have just written, to answer one or the 
other, or both of them, whichever you prefer, hon- 
estly and squarely ; and to acknowledge, to yourself, 
at least, the full force of the answer you give, and 
to be willing to stand by and defend your answer, not 
theoretically only, but by your own acts and deeds 
— your own way of living, whoever you are ! 

And I ask this of you because the argument I am 



90 Children hy Chance or by Choice 

making is not based on theories, or statistics, or 
"authorities," but on the personal experiences of the 
men and women whom I know, and whom jou know 
— yes, closer home than that, namely on your ex- 
periences and mine, which are the ultimate tests in 
these matters, so far as we are concerned. You 
need not answer to me, nor to any one but your- 
self ; but answer to yourself as a person whom you 
can decently respect, so far as your alleged beliefs 
and your real practices are concerned ! 

Regardless of what your personal answer may or 
may not be, it is only fair to set down, as a part of 
this record, what the almost universal theory and 
practice of civilized mankind have been, especially 
that part of mankind that you and I are most fa- 
miliar with, and know most about. Among these, 
you know, and I know, for we have grown up under 
such conditions, the theory regarding this great is- 
sue has been one thing, and the universal practice, 
especially among married men and women, has been 
an entirely different thing! Among practically all 
these people, the announced belief has been that the 
sole function of sex in the human family is that of 
reproduction, and that any other exercise of that 
function is a sin of greater or less magnitude! 

To be sure, such practice has always been counted 
as a sin that could be more or less winked at, or 
condoned, in wedlock, where it could be legalized, so 
far as man-made laws were concerned. But still, 



Something About Children hy Chance or Choice 91 

even there, it has been held, so far as teachings and 
theoretical beliefs are concerned, that things would 
be far better than they are if the whole sex side 
of human life could be eliminated or inhibited, other 
than for reproductive purposes ; and there are those 
who hold that even for such purposes other and 
better ways of perpetuating the species might have 
been devised! If one doubts these assertions, read 
Paul's declaration that "It is better to marry than 
to burn," or the statement of the Psalmist who says : 
"We are conceived in sin and born in iniquity .'' 

It is not pleasant to write these things, but an 
honest inquiry into the real truths of the proposi- 
tion we are considering demands that they be made 
a part of the record in compiling any comprehen- 
sive statement of the subject in hand. Practically, 
the theory of this part of human life and experi- 
ence has been that sex in humanity is a debased and 
debasing quality, that any exercise of its functions, 
even for reproduction, tends to lower the character 
of the parties to the act ; and that any and all other 
expressions of this part of humanity's make-up is 
sinful and so should be avoided to the utmost pos- 
sible degree. 

Such has been the theory of the Christian Church 
from its very beginning, in any and all of its many 
and varied sects and denominations. Some of these 
have been more pronounced than others in assert- 
ing their special beliefs on the subject; but all have 



92 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

practically agreed in their teachings regarding it. 
Tomes and volumes have been written to substanti- 
ate such beliefs, and those in authority in these in- 
stitutions have taught the doctrine, earnestly and 
continually through the years. 

As an historical fact, these views of the early 
Christian era were based on a general contempt for 
the human body, and for all material things, be- 
cause it was held by these early believers that the 
world was to come to an end very shortly, and that 
the chief interest in this life was to prepare for a life 
to come, which might be entered upon at almost any 
moment. It was for this cause that religion became 
the chief factor in life in that era, and took the form 
of an other-worldliness, rather than of correct modes 
of living while in the physical body. So compre- 
hensive was this view of life and living that the prin- 
ciples it involved were made to apply to everything 
that men and women had to do with. It affected 
what they ate and what they drank, and wherewithal 
they were clothed, and it specially pronounced 
against "meddling'^ with things, by way of attempt- 
ing to change them from what "God made them," 
as witness this quotation from one of the ancient 
Fathers, who wrote: "The purpose of clothing is 
to defend the body against excess of cold and in- 
tensity of heat, and the simplest materials are suf- 
ficient for the purpose. The Christian woman must 
therefore bid farewell to embroidery of gold and 



Something About Children by Chance or Choice 93 

Indian silks ; she is strictly forbidden to wear gold 
ornaments of any kind, and she is to avoid all dyed 
clothes, as dye is unnecessary for health, afflicts 
greedy eyes, and, moreover, it is false ; for God would 
have made sheep purple if he had wished woolen 
clothes to he purple!'^ The italicized words are 
mine, but they show very plainly the extent to which 
this protest against "meddling with nature's ways" 
was carried in those far days. That a good deal 
of this spirit has descended to modern times is evi- 
dent to all who will study into the origin of many 
of the ways and customs of today. 

Doubtless the people who developed these views 
felt that they had good and sufficient reasons for 
maintaining them. There is no need of blaming 
them, or of saying hard things about them. Take 
them by and large, most people believe in doing what 
seems to them best, take it all in all ; and it behooves 
us all to be charitable. Still, while we may not con- 
demn the authors of great mistakes, it is nothing 
short of folly to persist in upholding their errors 
after it is discovered that they were wrong in the 
opinions and beliefs they held. And the fact that 
such authors of errors were counted as great, or 
even holy people in their day, should have no weight 
as a reason for the continuation of policies and deeds 
which they inaugurated, but which time has proven 
were not based in truth. 

Added to these Christian theorizers and teachers. 



94 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

there have arisen, from time to time, men and women 
who have assumed to consider this subject of correct 
sex-life less from a religious, and more from an al- 
leged strictly logical point of view. And from them 
the uniform statement of the case, on its theoretical 
side, has been as follows: 

(a) Man is an animal. 

(b) Among animals the sole purpose of sex is re- 
production. 

(c) Therefore, in man the sole purpose of sex 
is reproduction. 

Practically all the books "For Young Men" and 
"For Young Women" contain this syllogism in one 
form or another. And to such conclusion their writ- 
ers have always added the corollary that, since the 
sole function of sex in the human family is repro- 
duction, any other exercise of such faculty is con- 
trary to nature, and therefore positively wrong. 
And because it is rightfully held that it is the busi- 
ness of life to overcome wrong doing, believers in this 
doctrine maintain that everything possible ought to 
be done, individually and collectively, to eliminate, 
crush out, kill and totally annihilate this part of the 
human make-up, except such a modicum of it as may 
be needful to keep the race from perishing off the 
face of the earth! 

Such are the theories which have been taught to 
the generations that you and I are descended from, 
through all the Christian Era, at least, and even 



Something About Children by Chance or Choice 95 

before that time, in some lands, and under some con- 
ditions. If you know of a book or a treatise on 
this subject which the common people have ever 
been, or are now permitted to read, which teaches 
any other doctrine than this, you have found some- 
thing that I have never yet discovered. In a word, 
the teachers of the civilized world of today, religious 
and alleged logically scientific, are proclaiming this 
doctrine early and late, and it is practically the 
only instruction that the common people have, or 
can in any way procure, regarding this part of their 
lives ! It was taught to me, and I am very sure that 
it was taught to you. More than that, it was taught 
to us very early in our lives, if we were taught any- 
thing at all regarding this part of our being; and 
what is taught us very early in our lives takes a 
mighty hold on us, and its influence on our subse- 
quent existence is inestimable ! I shall make special 
mention of this fact later on in my argument, for it 
is a factor whose significance is more forceful than 
is generally known in the social life of today. 

On the other hand, in spite of these theories, doc- 
trines and teachings regarding the mission of sex 
in the human race, the practices of the overwhelm- 
ing majority of mankind and womankind have been 
utterly at variance with what they have been taught, 
and with their professed beliefs ! As I have already 
said, within the bounds of wedlock such practices 
have been legalized by man-made laws, and not only 



96 Children hy Chance or by Choice 

so, but submission to such practice has been made 
legally compulsory, on the part of wives, with the 
penalty of divorce if they refuse to submit to such 
demands on the part of their husbands ! This is 
''common law," and some form of such law still ex- 
ists in all modern civilized lands, states and nations ! 
To tell the whole story, it should be added that, out- 
side of the limits of marriage, nearly all men, and 
very many women have lived and are now living sex 
lives which were and are contrary to their sex creeds ! 
These are matters of common knowledge; but they 
are equally matters of common hush-up, say-noth- 
ing-about-it, and taboo sort ! Abas ! 

And it might as well be said here as later, that 
such a conditioning of these basic affairs of human 
life is about as bad as could possibly be devised if 
the purpose of such exploiting was to work ruin to 
human character. The reason for this is, that be- 
cause of this variance between announced beliefs and 
actual practices, all classes of men and women in the 
Christian world today are obliged to live a continual 
lie, or a series of continual lies! And to live con- 
tinual lies is the most debasing and soul-destroying 
experience that a human being can be subjected to! 

Let all of us who have, all our lives, been obliged 
to be the victims of such continual falsifications sum 
up, just here, if we can, the total of what their ef- 
fects have been, and still are, upon our charactersi 



Something About Children by Chance or Choice 97 

Try not to flinch from this stand-and-deliver chal- 
lenge, as it appeals to you personally. 

(The further I get into this writing, the more I 
realize that it is chiefly a personal affair, a sort of 
heart-to-heart talk between you and me. And it is 
better, yes, best, so ! It is only as mdividuals can 
be personally touched and moved to action that real 
and permanent results can be obtained! This is a 
root principle in all social and ethical changes or 
reforms. This is why I ask you to bring yourself 
and your own personal experiences in sex life to the 
test of the truth or falsity of these theories and 
their exposition. Let these stand or fall, not by 
what books or '^authorities" say about them, not as 
they tally with or are contrary to history, conven- 
tional traditions and man-made laws, but solely as 
they fit your experiences and mine, for such is the 
court of final appeal in what is of real moment to 
us, or to any!) 

And so I ask you again to ask yourself, and to 
insist on an answer, whether it has been to your bene- 
fit or for your harm, that you have been compelled 
to live a continual sex-lie all your life? You need 
not answer to me, but I beseech you, as you are an 
honest man or woman, to answer to yourself, who- 
ever you are! Be honest now! Don't "side-step" 
the whole afl*air by saying "who cares?" or "we 
don't own it" ! If you are a man or a woman who 



98 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

counts one in a civilization of which you cannot help 
being a part, you must "care" for you do "own" 
your share of these affairs. 

And yet, we are not so much nor so wondrously 
to blame, you, or I, or any, for these lying modes of 
sex-living that we have been practically forced into, 
all our lives. We have only done as we have been 
taught to do, and as all our elders and example-set- 
ters have taught and done before us, time out of 
mind! 

Truth to tell, we had mighty little real teaching 
regarding our sex-life, one way or another, any of 
us ; on this score, the anomalous condition has ob- 
tained that here, the knowledge gained by one gen- 
eration (if any such knowledge which was of per- 
manent value was really gained) should not be 
passed on to those following, but that each gen- 
eration should begin over, and find its own way 
in these matters, de novo, just as if no one had ever 
known anything about such part of huinan life be- 
fore, and that 'Hnstmct would take care of all these 
affairs^'! iSo let us not be too hard upon ourselves 
and our deeds in these regards, because of these 
facts. On the other hand, let us not be content to 
continue in our blindness and our lying ways of liv- 
ing, now that the truth has been pointed out to us 1 
But more of this later. 

Now, it is out of these utterly false conditions, 
these pronounced differences between alleged beliefs 



Something About Children by Chance or Choice 99 

and contrary practices regarding sex life and sex 
functioning, that the result of ^'children by chance^' 
has come to be the practically universal rule for the 
perpetuation of the human species! For we all 
know that at least ninety-nine per cent of the chil- 
dren who are born into the world today, are begot- 
ten by chance rather than by choice! 

(And again I say that I am not bringing statistics 
or "authorities" to prove my assertions, but that I 
base their truthfulness solely upon your experiences 
and mine ! How did you or your children begin to 
be? Answer that honestly, and I am sure I shall 
be safe in basing my per cent assertion on your 
reply!) 

The reasons for this condition of affairs are as 
follows : 

Reverting to the principles which I set forth in 
the early chapters of this book, it is certain that 
the reproduction of the species in mere animal life 
is not a matter of chance at all, but one of definite 
certainty. More than that, it is not a matter of 
choice^ either, in any degree, with any form of life 
below man. In all such realms of life-expression, 
instinct is the sole guide and cause of reproduction; 
and as we have clearly seen, instinct knows nothing 
of either chance or choice! It is a matter of com- 
pulsion, pure and simple, and that is all there is 
of it. 

But in the human family, sex expression rises from 



100 Children by Chance or by Choice 

the plane of instinct into the realm of impulse, and 
so comes under the possible control of choice, and 
the human will; and hence the method of dealing with 
it is entirely removed from that of the manner of 
its exercise in the brute creation! I am well aware 
that I have said this before; but it is so important 
that it needs to be said not only again, but many, 
many times. 

And it is because mankind has not recognized this 
all-important fact, that this disagreement between 
theory and practice in sex-living has grown up in 
the human species. Men and women (and especially 
men), have kept their theories on the instinct-limit- 
ing plane of mere animality, while they have given 
their practices free rein under the larger range of 
willful possibility of sex-exercise which has come 
to mankind as a necessary part of the plus of hu- 
manity! 

In all the realms of life below humanity, sex-ex- 
ercise is only possible when the female is compelled 
by her instinct to desire to reproduce. And it is 
also true that the males in these life-forms never 
offer their services for any other purpose than re- 
production, and then only when their natural mates 
are fully prepared for, and desire, impregnation. 
At no other time does the sex-instinct appear so far 
as mutual sex-expression is concerned. 

But this is not the case in the human race! In 
this realm of life-forms, sex-expression rises above 



Something About Children by Chance or Choice 101 

the realm of instinct into that of impulse^ and this 
sex-impulse is possible of expression under the con- 
trol of the will, in all noiTnal adults, of both sexes, 
practically at all times! The desire to reproduce 
has little or nothing to do with the possibility of 
such expression in human beings. In all other forms 
of life, such desire is absolutely essential to sex- 
manifestation; and without it, such phenomena are 
not only unknown, but positively impossible. This 
fact forms one of the greatest and most significant 
differences between man and the lower forms of life 
that is within the ken of human knowledge. 

And just here is where the trouble comes in, in 
the most intimate relations of married men and 
women. Being legally, religiously and respectably 
granted the possibility of sex-exercise at any time, 
regardless of whether reproduction is desired or not, 
human beings, especially the male portion thereof, 
and in many cases the female as well, have treated 
this added quality as though it were on a par with 
the animality of mere instinct, and have not sub- 
jected it to the control of the will, under whose wise 
guidance only can it fulfill the purpose it was meant 
to serve. That is, sex having been promoted into 
the plus of humanity, its exercise has been indulged 
in as though it were still only a brute possession ! 

And it is because of this condition of affairs that 
the begetti/ng of progeny in the human family has be- 
come a matter of chance! Because sex-exercise is 



102 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

constantly possible for adult human beings, and such 
expression is indulged in indiscrimately by married 
men and women, regardless of whether it results in 
reproduction or not ; and because conception is al- 
ways liable to result from such meetings, unless it 
has already taken place — because these things 
are as they are, the impregnation of the wife is liable 
to occur at any embrace; that is, as I have already 
said, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, concep- 
tion, in the married relation, is a matter of chance, 
pure and simple, and not one of certainty, much 
less one of choice. And again I say that I do not 
attempt to substantiate this statement by statistics, 
nor by the testimony of "authorities." Your own 
experiences as a husband or a wife have demonstrated 
its truthfulness, and you know it as well as any 
one. 

These facts bring us face to face with the prob- 
lem stated in the title of this book, and they also 
connect up all the earlier chapters I have written, 
with the main subject in hand. They also point 
unerringly to the real causes of most of the troubles 
in married life, according to the fundamental prin- 
ciple that when chance is permitted to control af- 
fairs which were intended to be guided and managed 
by choice and the human will, success under such 
conditions is not only extremely improbable, but, as 
a matter of fact, it is practically impossible ! 

How successfully could a railroad, or any other 



Sonwthing About Children hy Chamce or Choice 103 
business concern be run, if it were exploited by 
chance alone? Surely, nothing but disaster and 
ruin could ever come under such conditions, except 
by the constant exercise of miracles to avert such 
calamities. And miracles are not of frequent ap- 
pearance in these days ; surely not to the extent that 
their intervention must be relied upon as the only 
certain road leading to the success of the enterprise 
undertaken! And yet, in the greatest of all enter- 
prises in which humanity can be engaged, namely, 
the bringing of children into this world, we still per- 
mit chance to be the main factor in the premises ! 

But, though all these things are so, learned bodies 
of doctors still issue their manifesto that «we must 
not meddle with nature's ways," and legislators 
make laws which demand the punishment by fine and 
imprisonment of any one who disseminates knowl- 
edge as to how children can be bom other than by 

chance! 

It is because of this condition of afFairs that it 
would seem to be wise to try earnestly to find out 
what "nature's ways" are, as they apply to sex m 
humanity. 



CHAPTER VIII 

SOME STUDIES AS TO THE REAL MISSION OF SEX IN THE 
HUMAN SPECIES 

Putting together the several arguments and 
demonstrations I have so far made, does not the 
thought occur that it is quite possible that sex has 
two modes of expression in the human famUy, just as 
appetite for food has two modes of expression, ami 
eyesight has two, and hearing has two? 

You will remember that I spoke of the two modes 
of expression of physical appetite for food, as this 
quality exists in mankind, as materially-constructive 
and esthetically-upbuilding, respectively; and I gave 
similar namings to the double forms of expression 
in the matter of human eyesight and of hearing. 
The first of all these modes of expression, in each 
case and severally, is the most primary, and deals 
almost entirely with the material make-up of man- 
kind. The second, in each case, pertains wholly to 
the plus of humanity, and its exercise is only pos- 
sible where such plus exists. On the other hand, its 
rightful exercise is absolutely essential to the growth 

104 



Real Mission of Sex in the Hwman Species 105 

amd development of swell plus (given that addition 
to man's material organism). 

Now, it is on this basis that the probability ap- 
pears, and on examination of the facts in the case, 
it becomes a positive certainty, that sex also has 
two forms of expression in the human species, the 
first of which is most primary and deals largely with 
the material make-up of mankind; while the second, 
which belongs entirely to the plus of humanity, serves 
a wholly esthetic purpose, namely, the upbuild- 
ing, the growth and the development of this plus, 
whose existence makes the exercise of this form of 
sex-expression possible. 

On this basis, the first of these modes of sex-ex- 
pression is the reproductive; the second may well 
be called the "afFectional," a word which finely de- 
notes the scope and significance of this form of hu- 
man sex-manifestation. Looked at in this way, the 
first of these manifestations is, primarily, of the 
ecrth earthy, and may descend as low in its exercise 
as the plane of mere brutality. The second is God- 
born, and may include in its realization everything 
between the most blissful of physical delights and 
all the raptures that come from the scaling of men- 
tal and spiritual heights. The first may be only 
like a prose statement of a dire necessity; the sec- 
ond, in its rightful expressions, is like poetry with 
all the lilt and rhythm of the most perfect of ca- 
dences. The first may be only like the harsh noise 



106 Children by Chance or by Choice 

of a clumsy machine; the second may be music in 
its most heavenly forms! The first, in itself alone, 
is a mere matter of fact ; the second takes the imag- 
ination for its partner, in its journeyings, and the 
twain together may explore all the realms of beauty 
in time and space. The first may be coldly scien- 
tific, merely ; the second may be fanciful to a limit- 
less degree. The first may be only ice; the second 
may always be sunshine. The first, per se, is bald 
reality ; the second is, at its best, an idealized dream 
come true. The first has animal instinct for its 
base ; the second is grounded in a divine impulse in- 
spired by human love. The first, considered on the 
physical-utility plane only, has but one aim in view, 
but one reason for its existence, namely, the per- 
petuation of the human species ; the second includes 
in its purpose and usefulness the upbuilding of the 
whole human life, from the extreme lowliness of its 
material existence to the highest reaches of man's 
spiritual being. The first may be exploited on the 
demand of one party, in its gross fulfillment; and 
the second is realized only by the mutual desire and 
consent of both parties concerned. The first may 
be a matter of compulsion, or coercion even; the 
second must always be the free-will offering of love. 
The first may be counted as a legal right and be 
enforced as such ; the second knows nothing of rights 
or duties, and if either of these even knocks at its 
doors, it flies out at the window instantly. The first 



Real Mission of Sex m the Hwman Species 107 

may pertain to the physical body only, and can con- 
tinue to exist on the material plane alone ; the second 
is an adjunct of the plus of humanity, and must be 
exercised on that plane if it lives and flourishes 
according to the intent of its existence. 

Now, I am not misrepresenting in writing thus of 
the first mode of sex-expression, when considered by 
itself alone; nor am I rhapsodising in saying what 
I have of its second form of manifestation. There 
are many who read what I have written who can tes- 
tify to the truthfulness of my words, as they apply 
to each manner of sex-living as they exist among 
husbands and wives. 

Perhaps I ought to add that under normal con- 
ditions, and when men and women come to the full 
realization of their possibilities as human beings, 
there is a mingling of these two forms of sex-life, 
which makes for a perfect harmony between the ma- 
terial and the spiritual, the human and the divine, 
the earthly and the heavenly. Such condition is 
well known to man}^ men and women, and it is easily 
comparable to the results which come from the 
double expression of human physical appetite for 
food, as we have already seen this to be, and such 
analogy is almost perfect. 

Thus the body can be kept alive by the solitary 
devouring of raw meat and unground grain. But 
such is not human living ; it is the life of beasts ! 
Furthermore, what all the accompaniments of table 



108 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

furnishings, and well prepared foods and drinks, and 
social converse, and mutual delights of breaking 
bread together, — what all these do in the exercise of 
physical appetite, on the plane of the plus of human- 
ity, for the upbuilding and development of mankind 
(and the same thing is true in the case of eyesight 
and hearing), all this, and more, the exercise of the 
"affectional" mode of sex-expression does for hu- 
manity through the exploitation of this part of its 
make-up ! 

And to contend that the reproductive element in 
sex-expression is the only rightful way in which this 
part of man's being can be exercised, is on a par 
with insisting that the partaking of food for the 
purpose of "keeping up the body," merely, is the 
only way in which human physical appetite can be 
rightly utilized ! Or that the only use of eyesight is 
to guide one's steps aright, or that of ears merely 
to tell where danger lies. More than this, to de- 
clare that any attempt to realize the possible best 
in both these modes of sex-expression, by means of 
man's ingenuity, is "meddling with nature's ways," 
is like saying that all efforts to produce delicious 
foods and artistic table furnishings are wrongdoing ; 
or that the making of pictures or the printing of 
books, or the singing of songs or the playing of 
musical instruments is a sin ! 

All of which means that sex, as it exists vn the hu- 
man species I'equires both the reproductive and the 



Real Mission of Sex in the Hvmian Species 109 

affectional modes of expression, in order that it may 
fulfill its real mission as a factor in human life. 

There is no escape from this conclusion if one ad- 
mits the plus of humanity as an attainment in hu- 
man life ! 

For, as soon as one admits the existence of the 
plus of humanity, he observes that the possession of 
such plus puts mankind wholly outside of and above 
the plane of mere animality ; and just so soon it fol- 
lows that all the qualities that men and women pos- 
sess in common with life-forms below them have two 
forms of expression instead of one, and that both of 
these must he given the exercise which their very na- 
ture demands in order that their possessors may grow 
and develop normally, and in harmony with the es- 
sential laws of their being. 

Reviewing somewhat further these two modes of 
sex-expression in the human family, it may help some- 
what to a better understanding of the situation to 
say, regarding the first, that even this, which is very 
closely related to the same sort of functioning in 
the brute creation, since it results in the reproduc- 
tion of the species, differs essentially from mere ani- 
mality in its exercise, since, in mankind it is a matter 
of impulse under the possible control of the will, 
while in the brutes it is an affair of instvnct only, 
with which will and choice have, and can have, noth- 
ing whatever to do. And it is because of this es- 
sential difference which exists between sex-function- 



110 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

ing on the reproductive side in mankind and in the 
brute creation, that the principles and practices 
which apply in one case do not and cannot apply in 
the other. Amongst animals there is neither any 
danger, or even any possibility of injustice or harm, 
or any similar evil results arising, for any of the 
parties concerned, from sex-functioning, on this 
plane, since the whole affair is under the guidance 
and control of a power or a force which prevents 
any excess in this particular form of life-force-ex- 
pression, namely, instinct. More than this, sex-ex- 
ercise is never engaged in, nor is it possible in the 
brute creation, without the mutual consent and pro- 
nounced desire of both parties to the act! This is 
a factor of supreme moment, and hence is one which 
demands more than a passing notice. 

This is so, for the reason that amongst men and 
women who may legally cohabit, that is, amongst 
husbands and wives, mutual consent, or even mutual 
desire for sex-exercise is not only not required, but 
its fulfillment can be exacted on the part of one of 
the individuals concerned, even against the positive 
protest, or even the pronounced resistance of the 
other party to the act. Not only is this so, but 
such compulsory submission, even if carried to the 
extent of physical force is sustained and buttressed 
by law, where the parties are married ; and to refuse 
to yield to such demands subjects those who thus 
deny the exercise of a legal marital right to pen- 



Real Mission of Sex vn the Human Species 111 

alties so severe that, as a rule, the sufferers prefer 
to bear the ills thej have rather than to fly to others 
that they know not of. And I need not quote sta- 
tistics to prove this assertion either! 

The question remains, can anything be done to 
make these conditions better than they now, are; 
and, if so, what? To answer such questions fairly, 
intelligently and satisfactorily, it will help to look 
into history for a space, and to inquire how it has 
come about that these conditions are as they are. 

If we go back far enough into the past, the un- 
pleasant, yet undeniable fact appears that marriage 
was, in its early estate, a form of slavery, pure and 
simple. Wives were stolen in those old days, and 
like any other piece of filched property they were 
subjected to any uses which their captors chose to 
make of them; and because these thieves were hu- 
man beings, and so were possessed of the ability to 
exercise this sex-function at will, and because they 
were physically stronger than the women they stole, 
and so were able to coerce them, it was perfectly nat- 
ural, under such conditions, that the submission of 
these slave wives to the sex-demands of their hus- 
bands should come into existence. 

Most of the affairs of life have come into existence 
quite naturally, when we know all the facts that per- 
tain to them! 

Another curious and very significant fact is that 
found in the early history of monogamic marriage 



lis Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

(the earliest forms of marriage were not mono- 
gamic) which had its rise among the Greek people, 
as follows: It was one of the tenets of some of the 
forms of Greek religion that the spirit of a dead 
man must, after his demise, be looked after by some 
one in this world who had the deceased one's blood 
in his veins. Now when this form of faith first arose, 
monogamy was not in practice among the Greeks, 
but men and women gave expression to their sex- 
natures according to natural desires, practically un- 
regulated by either law, or custom or social ban. 
Under these conditions it is self-evident that pater- 
nity was a very uncertain affair, and that it would 
be exceedingly difficult for any man to be abso- 
lutely sure as to whether a child which was osten- 
sibly his really had any of his blood in its veins. 
And a man had to be exceedingly careful in such 
matters, in those times, since the gods were supposed 
to know everything, and to deceive them in these 
affairs was therefore impossible! Under these cir- 
cumstances, it became customary for men who 
wished to make sure in the premises to take some 
one woman and shut her up, where she could not 
meet other men, and so make sure that the children 
she bore had his blood in their veins! Meantime, 
such men themselves sustained sex-relations with 
other women, if they chose to do so, and were not 
accounted as doing wrong by that manner of liv- 
ing. This is one of the ways in which monogamy 



Real Mission of Sea: in the Human Species 113 

came into vogue amongst one of the peoples of the 
earth. 

But there is no need of dwelling too long on these 
details, nor of historically establishing all the dif- 
ferent ways in which early marital relations amongst 
men and women were maintained. Enough to say 
that, in all such relations, there was an element of 
slavery which persisted to a greater or less degree 
as time went on. And it is also true that more or 
less of this spirit and of its concrete expression has 
come down to modern times. 

On the other hand, among some ancient peoples, 
the mother of the family was the center of the house- 
hold. Her children bore her name and all property 
rights were vested in her. Under these conditions 
men were the lesser half of married life, and women 
were far freer and further removed from slavish con- 
ditions than when their husbands stole them and 
compelled them to do their bidding, irrespective of 
their desires or their well-being. That is, women, 
being economically free from the control of men, 
were in position to assert and maintain an inde- 
pendence which was impossible where men were their 
lords and masters. There is an item to this state 
of affairs which is of great importance, as we shall 
see later. 

Chivalry had also something to do in the estab- 
lishment of married relations, as they came to exist 
in some localities ; but this form of wedded life was 



114+ Children by Chance or by Choice 

largely fictitious and sophisticated. It consisted al- 
most entirely of a sentimentality which flourished to 
the extent of tropical profusion before marriage, 
but which shrunk to nothingness, or brutality, once 
the banns were pronounced. It consisted largely of 
words which seldom eventuated in deeds, in protesta- 
tions which were more honored in the breach than 
in the observance, once the knight had possessed him- 
self of the object of his passionate pursuit. 

Remnants of many of these early marital condi- 
tions are still recognizable in our current marriage 
ceremonies. Thus, the ring is a mystic symbol of 
the shackles with which wives were chained by their 
captors, and the promise to "obey'^ is a relic of a 
condition of servitude which at one time obtained 
for all married women. The phrase "with all my 
earthly goods I thee endow" is a "left over" from 
the age of chivalry, and is as meaningless in this 
setting, so far as performance is concerned, as were 
all the rest of the voluble voicings of those gay and 
festive characters ; while even the name wed-lock has 
a significance of steel-trapness that inheres in the 
very sound of the word itself. 

Such is a brief review of some of the legal marital 
relations which have existed between husbands and 
wives in days gone by. In every case except one, 
namely, when the wives were the property holders 
of the combination, the husbands were in supreme 
authority, and such mastership in many cases in- 



Real Mission of Sex in the Human Species 115 

eluded the power of life and death. That is, a hus- 
band could kill his wife, if he chose to do so, and none 
could stay his hand or say, what hast thou done? 

Under such conditions, is it any wonder that men 
in whom there exists the constant desire for sex- 
exercise, should have required, or even compelled the 
subjection of their wives to their impulses, or what 
they counted as their sexual needs? 

Of course, it cannot be truthfully maintained that 
all wdves, even then as now, were or are always co- 
erced in sex relations. Human nature being what 
it is, and has been through the ages, renders such 
a conclusion unwarranted. But the fact remains 
that there has always existed in the married state, 
the possibility of the coercion of the wife at the will 
of the husband; and that such right has not only 
been backed up by law, but that its exercise has been 
of all too frequent occurrence is a matter of com- 
mon knowledge. More than this, that the exercise 
of such legal right on the part of the husband has 
been the cause of untold married unhappiness is as 
well known as is the fact that such right has ex- 
isted. 

In view of all these facts, it is easy to see where 
injustice and troubles have arisen between husbands 
and wives, both in the past and up to date. It is a 
fundamental principle in equity and in justice that, 
in all affairs where two equal personalities are con- 
cerned, nothing can rightfully be done which is not 



116 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

undertaken by the mutual consent of both parties to 
the doing. Any other mode of procedure than this 
is only a form of master and slave. It may not be 
called by such name, but the condition is really that 
and nothing else. 

Anent which item, namely, mutual agreement be- 
ing an absolute essential in all affairs where two 
equal personalities are concerned, if right and equity 
are to ensue, I cannot resist the temptation to call 
the attention of my readers to some very significant 
words which have been uttered in the past, from two 
very different sources, as follows : 

There is a passage in the Bible, which, if correctly 
interpreted, would read: "And if two of you shall 
agree as touching anything, it may be done by them, 
for such is in harmony with the eternal order of 
things." And the corollary of this saying must be 
that, where two are equally concerned, and do not 
"agree as touching" the issue in hand, for one alone 
to insist on its doing, against the will of the other, 
cannot be "in harmony with the eternal order of 
things" ! The saying is worthy of its author, and 
the common sense, as well as the experiences of man- 
kind, prove its value as a guiding principle in all 
dual human relationships. 

Another forceful saying to the same effect, but 
somewhat more subtle, comes to us from an ancient 
Chinese philosopher, who says: "Where two are 
jointly concerned, one must not insist!" 



Real Mission of Sex i/n the Human Species 117 

In no relations in life are these words more truth- 
ful and forceful than in that of marriage. And yet, 
always, where such disagreements and insistences as 
I have referred to do occur, the theory of at least 
one of the parties to such untoward conditions has 
always been that the sole mission of sex in the human 
species is reproduction, while the practice has been 
the very reverse of this, even in the face of the fact 
that all such extra-reproductive sex-expression was 
counted to be a sin ! To be sure it was a legalized 
sin so long as it was confined to the marriage rela- 
tion, and it was because of this fact that Bernard 
Shaw makes one of his characters say: "Marriage 
is one of the most licentious institutions in the 
world ; and the reason it is so popular is that it fur- 
nishes the maximum of opportunity at the minimum 
of risk." "This is a hard saying, who can bear it?" 
But we have to bear it, or at least to acknowledge 
its truthfulness! 

And so we return to the evident fact that sex in 
the human family has two modes of expression, 
namely, the reproductive and the affectional; and be- 
cause in all other cases in human life where there 
are two modes of expression of any faculty, it is es- 
sential that hoth be recognized and given the oppor- 
tunities for the exercise which their existence re- 
quires for the growth and development of their pos- 
sessors — ^because these things are so, it follows that 
hoth the reproductive and the affectional phases of 



118 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

sex-life in humanity should he provided for, and such 
conditions discovered and established as would make 
their normal fulfillment possible! Is there any es- 
cape from this conclusion? Is there any mistake in 
the logic or in the facts that lead up to it, and 
which make it inevitable? If not, and I confess that 
I can find none such, let us acknowledge the situa- 
tion and undertake to make provision for it, as its 
existence and the well-being of men and women de- 
mand. Let us conclude, once for all, that the real 
mission of sex in the human family is that it is meant 
to serve a double purpose, each of which is right and 
honorable, God-ordained, if you will, and, with this 
point settled, let us believe and act accordingly! 
Let us quit all theories which hold that the aff^c- 
tional expression of sex-life is a sin — this first of all! 
Indeed, let us learn that, just as the esthetical part 
of the appetite for food, or the cultural exercise of 
eye-sight or of hearing have, because they are ac- 
cessories of the plus of humanity y become the major 
part of the exercise of all these faculties ; in just the 
same way, and for the same reason, let us under- 
stand that the affectional expression of sex-life is 
really the major part of the exercise of this part of 
the human economy! 

Such, then, is the ultimate and undeniable con- 
clusion which we are forced to accept as a result of 
our studies as to "the real mission of sex in the hu- 



man species 



5> 



CHAPTER IX 

WHAT OUGHT TO BE DONE UNDER THESE CIRCUM- 
STANCES? 

To answer the question which stands at the head 
of this chapter is no easy task, nor can a full reply 
be given to it at present, things being as they now 
are ! So much must be acknowledged at the very 
outset. But, this much we can do : First, we can 
acknowledge the facts, in our own hearts and con- 
sciences at least; and then, second, we can use our 
best efforts to bring about conditions which will 
make it possible for ourselves and our fellow men 
and women to live lives which are in harmony with 
what these facts prove to be the truth in these 
premises! To do these two things is not only com- 
mon sense, but it is a duty that every person who is 
loyal to life should do to the best of his or her ability. 

Now, neither of these two things will be easy to 
do, for the most of mankind! Probably the first 
will be harder than the second ! This will be owing 
to the fact that we have all so long been taught that 
the reverse of the conclusions reached in the last 
chapter is true that it will be exceedingly difficult 

119 



120 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

for many of us, not to say most of us, to break away 
from our ancient and honorable instructions and our 
long-held and deeply intrenched beliefs. We are not 
to blame for this condition of mind, for inertia is a 
strong factor in the human composition. But, hav- 
ing recognized the truth in these matters, the man- 
hood in our veins, and the love for humanity in our 
hearts should inspire us to an activity which will 
result in establishing rightful conditions in these es- 
sential affairs of life. And it is neither disrespect 
to the past, nor treason to the present to use our 
energies in such direction ! 

I say it will be no slight task for the most of the 
people of today to bring themselves into a mental 
attitude in which they will dare to admit, even to 
themselves, the fact that there are really two, na- 
ture-ordained and God-ordained, modes of sex-ex- 
pression in humanity; and it will be harder still for 
them to acknowledge that the "affectional" mani- 
festation of this quality is of the greater importance 
and potency in the up-building of human character. 
It is for this reason that I wish to present, just here, 
some suggestions which may impel to right thinking 
along these lines. That is, I want to formulate some 
of the facts and principles which ultimate in the 
conclusions I have just stated. To do this, let us 
review a little as follows : 

To begin at the beginning, it seems to me that we 
cannot avoid acknowledging the existence and the 



What Ought to he Done m these Circumstances 121 

rightful reality of the plus of humanity! As the 
proof of this has come to me, and as I have embodied 
it in my arguments, and so passed it on to you, I 
can find no escape from the conclusions it leads up 
to and results in! I cannot deny its presence and 
its forcefulness in the case of physical appetite for 
food, as this quality exists in myself and in man- 
kind. My own experience, and yours as well, com- 
pel us to acknowledge such plus in ourselves ; and if 
in us, equally so in our fellow men and women. So 
much seems to me absolutely certain, and I cannot 
see how you can help but come into the same mental 
condition. 

That is the first step ; and with so much estab- 
lished, ever so much more must follow as naturally 
as does the day the night. 

For, if this principle holds true in the case of 
physical appetite, as it surely does, much more and 
much clearer is it a certainty in its application to 
eye-sight and hearing! That there is more in these 
senses, as they exist and are effective in mankind, 
than there is in them as they exist and are effective 
in mere animals — of this I cannot conceive that there 
is a shadow of doubt in any sane human mind ! Fur- 
thermore, I cannot believe that any thoughtful per- 
son can help acknowledging, in all these cases of 
life-expression through the senses, that that which 
is exploited on the plus part of humanity is of far 
greater moment than that which demonstrates itself 



122 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

on the material plane alone. I cannot think that 
any reasoning and reasonable human being can pos- 
sibly hold to the belief that the use of the eyes to 
keep one out of the ditch is of equal value in the 
formation of human character with the use of sight 
for beholding what mere animal eyes can never see ! 
That the exercise of eye-sight on its esthetic side is 
of more value to mankind than is its utility on the 
material plane alone — of this there can be no differ- 
ence of opinion among intelligent and fairminded 
people ! 

And what is true of eye-sight is equally true of 
hearing ; you know that as well as I do. 

But, with these truths established, does it neces- 
sarily follow that the principles which hold good 
with regard to the plus of humanity in the matters 
of physical appetite, and eye-sight and hearing, that 
these same principles will rightfully apply to sex, as 
this quality exists in humanity? That is the su- 
preme question in what I am trying to get at, and 
I want to meet it fairly and squarely, and in such 
manner that there will be no more possibility of 
doubting the conclusions arrived at regarding it, 
than in the other cases upon which we have come to 
mutual and undeniable agreements. 

Now, the truthfulness of the conclusions reached 
in these concerns in the cases of physical appetite 
and eye-sight and hearing, is all based first, on the 
experiences that have come to mankind from the ex- 



What Ought to he Done m these Circumstances 123 

ercise of these faculties on the line of the plus of hu- 
moMity. The theory that all these faculties have a 
use that is of value to the plus of humanity has been 
tried out, and it works! Is it not safe to trust to 
the experiences of humanity in the matter of sex-ex- 
pression as well, and to form conclusions based on 
such inductive method of arriving at the truth? 

Civilized humanity has demonstrated, to the sat- 
isfaction of everybody concerned, that table furnish- 
ings and all the additions that have come to man- 
kind at the hands of desire and imagi/nation and in- 
genuitz/y in connection with the exploitation of 
physical appetite for food — that all such increments, 
when used sanely and under due control of the will, 
that is by choice and not by chance, have made for 
the betterment of the race, along all the lines on 
which it is capable of improvement. The same is 
true regarding eye-sight and hearing. By the ways 
of using eyes and ears, mankind has proven that they 
have a practical utility far and away beyond that 
of serving merely material needs. Is it not fair and 
safe to bring sex-expression and its influence upon 
mankind to the same kind of proof, and to form con- 
clusions from such testimony accordingly.? 

Now, by their modes of living their sex lives, it is 
true, beyond a doubt, that multitudes of men and 
women, all over the world, in all lands, in all climes, 
and in all ages and times, have demonstrated, to 
their complete satisfaction, at least, that the "affec- 



124 Children by Chance or by Choice 

tional" expression of their sex nature is not only pos- 
sible, but that such manner of life has made for the 
development and up-building of their entire human 
existence, physical, mental, moral, and spiritual. To 
be sure, these people have been obliged, for the most 
part, to live as they have lived their lives in this re- 
spect, under the most unpropitious of conditions — 
conditions under which it was almost impossible to 
realize what the truth actually was. They have been 
taught, and practically forced to believe, that all af- 
fectional sex manifestation was not only wrong, but 
that it was degrading and debasing, if not a positive 
sin. And these teachings have come from those 
whom they were bound to respect, and to look up to 
with the most perfect faith and unbounded rever- 
ence, if not with awe and fear! 

And yet, in spite of all these hindrances, handi- 
caps, forbiddings, condemnations and threatenings, 
the universal manner of living among married men 
and women, in all times and everywhere, has been 
contrary to what they have been taught and to what 
they were supposed to believe! 

And the wonderful fact about all this is, that, 
where husbands and wives have mutually agreed in 
these matters, they are convinced, in spite of all these 
drawbacks, of the real rightfulness and righteousness 
of their manner of living ! They know, by their own 
experiences, that the affectional expression of sex- 
life has made for their well-being in more ways than 



What Ought to be Done m these Circumstances 125 

they can number. Under these conditions, in view 
of the fact that such manner of life has persisted 
in spite of all that has been done to make it impos- 
sible, and, further, that it has been maintained by 
the iDest men and women in all the world, all the time, 
(the fathers and mothers are the people who have 
so lived), I say, is it not tremendously significant, 
must there not be an undeniable meaning to these 
things? Do not the experiences of these sane and 
wholesome men and women mean something that is of 
genuine importance to mankind? It would certainly 
seem so to every one who is capable of right think- 
ing. 

Oh, to be sure, there are multitudes of men and 
women, husbands and wives (especially wives), who 
have not agreed in these affairs. But these are they 
(they are mostly wives) whose deep-seated beliefs, 
which have resulted from their early and often-re- 
peated instructions in these affairs, have led them 
to attempt to make their manner of living conform 
to what they have been taught. They really look 
upon the whole subject as taboo, and wish that this 
part of their natures might be totally destroyed, 
never to be resurrected. Among these, reproduction 
is held to be the sole purpose of sex, and any other 
form of its expression is sin. And there are many 
such. The question is, whether or not they, or 
those who hold an opposite view, are correct? 

It almost goes without saying that married peo- 



126 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

pie who hold to such limited beliefs, and who attempt 
to put them into practice, are nowhere nearly as 
happy in the married relation as those of the other 
class I have mentioned. They are much fuller of 
trouble, their dispositions are far less sweet, and 
life has far less joy for them, in multitudes of ways. 
As a rule, their health is not so good (in many cases 
this factor is very pronounced) and their lives are, 
on an average, shorter than those of happily married 
people. All these things are true of both the hus- 
bands and the wives whom man only, and not God 
at all, has joined together! Statistics may not be 
procurable to prove this, but what we all know of 
our own knowledge, does prove it, beyond perad- 
venture. I shall have readers of both these classes, 
who can verify my statements by their own experi- 



ences 



For myself, I have been making personal observa- 
tions and studies along this special line for nearly 
half a century, and the conclusions I have just stated 
are based on what I have discovered in these inves- 
tigations. In pursuing this work, I have been aided 
by the voluntary assistance of a large number of 
good men and women, husbands and wives, who have 
freely and honestly disclosed to me their most inti- 
mate experiences in these vital affairs of their lives, 
and to them all, both you and I are greatly indebted 
for knowledge that could have been secured in no 
other way. They are pioneers in this great cause; 



What Ought to be Done in these Circumstances 127 

and like all those who form the front rank of prog- 
ress, they have been willing to sacrifice something, 
yes, ever so much, for the sake of those who are to 
follow along the trail they have blazed through a 
jungle and an unknown way! I want to thank all 
these, right here, for their bravery and their self- 
sacrifice. For it is no easy matter to let any other 
human being into the most secret and the most sacred 
of the experiences of life. Think how it would be 
in your own case, and then you will appreciate my 
tribute to these whom you will never know person- 
ally, but to whom we are all indebted beyond the 
possibility of value-received payment! 

And, added to what testimony I have gathered at 
the hands of these good people, I have been further 
assisted in my researches as I have previously noted, 
by a large number of physicians, clergymen, and 
lawyers, the three classes of professional men and 
women who know more of these special human ex- 
periences than any other, since they are oftenest con- 
sulted in these intimate affairs of human life and 
living; and all that I have gathered from all these 
sources (and the amount is voluminous) confirms the 
conclusions which I have arrived at from my own 
personal observations. All this testimony goes to 
show that sex-expression in the human species has 
two rightful modes of utilization, namely, the repro- 
ductive and the affectional, and that the exercise of 
both of these tends, positively, to the best interests 



128 Children by Chance or hy Choice 

and well-being of the parties concerned. So much 
for the argument on the line of experience. 

Again (for the case I am presenting is so en- 
trenched in the minds of the average reader, that is, 
the public, that its ancient stronghold will not yield 
to any single assault) what I said in an early chap- 
ter about '^desire, imagvnation and ingenuity,''^ is of 
special application on this point. Amongst all nor- 
mal husbands and wives, those whose natures have 
not been warped and changed by wrong teachings, 
the desire for sex-expression other than for repro- 
ductive purposes alone, is practically universal! I 
base this statement on conclusions I have reached 
from testimony that I have gathered by my own in- 
vestigations, and that which I have received from 
these professional classes I have recently mentioned. 
The great bulk of all such testimony makes for such 
conclusions, beyond peradventure. 

To cover the whole case, exceptions must be noted, 
and I therefore add that there are a number of wives 
in whom such desire is at a very low ebb, and some- 
times it appears to be entirely wanting; but a study 
of these cases has gone to prove that such condi- 
tion, when it exists, is one of sophistication and ab- 
normality; and the probabilities are many to one 
that it is caused by wrong teaching in youth, rather 
than from innate nature. The cases are very rare 
where there are exceptions to this rule, when all 
the facts are known. Such a condition among 



What Ought to be Done m these Circumstances 129 

women is known among physicians as "anaesthetic," 
and it is claimed by those best posted in this par- 
ticular, that practically all modern wives among 
those who are counted as of "the better classes" are 
subject, to a greater or less degree, to this state of 
body or of mind. But all the probabilities are that 
this state of being is more of a mental than it is of 
a physical condition, though the whole matter is so 
complicated that it is quite frequently next to an 
impossibility to determine its real basis of action, or 
lack of action, in any particular case. 

It is for these reasons that, in determining what 
the normal desires of wives really are, the negative 
testimony of the class just mentioned is of small 
value in obtaining a correct conclusion, since the 
probabilities are that such condition is, as I have 
already said, a sophisticated and not a natural one. 
We all know the tremendous influence that early 
teachings have upon the formation of persistent ways 
of thinking, believing and acting in later life. And 
we are all equally aware of the fact that all the 
teaching that is given to children along these lines, 
especially to girls, where any at all is given, is of 
the inhibitive or annulling sort ! If any little girl, 
yielding to her natural childish impulses, pets or 
fondles a little boy playmate, the finger of every 
adult female who witnesses such act is pointed in 
scorn at the child, and the words, "shamie ! shamie !" 
are invariably hissed at the really innocent offender ! 



130 Children by Chance or by Choice 

This is only one of many similar acts on the part 
of grown up people that tend to warp, distort and 
thwart the natural conditions and developments of 
modem adolescent and adult feminine human beings, 
especially in so-called Christian lands. Added to 
these abnormal suggestions and instructions are, in 
many cases, the prudish and Puritanical influences 
that emanate from Female Colleges, seminaries, etc., 
many of which are presided over by women who, 
either by nature or training, are anaesthetic, or at 
least profess to be so, and who, in any event, teach 
accordingly. As a matter of fact, the conditions 
under which girls and young women live, where thus 
segregated in such schools, is abnormal, and wholly 
contrary to the natural order of sane and wholesome 
development and living. 

Again: The undue strain and stress of intense 
mental application to which so many of the young 
women of this age are subjected, have a tendency 
to extinguish and kill out the natural and normal 
impulses and desires of those who are subjected to 
such manner of life. To the prudish and Puri- 
tanical, such extinction is counted as of great merit ; 
when, as a matter of fact, it is the very reverse of 
this ! It is a generally recognized fact among 
physicians that, in many cases, such training results 
in nervous disturbances on the part of the victims 
of such methods of intellectual intensification, which 
manifest themselves in a multitude of ways. This 



What Ought to be Done in these Circumstances 131 

is not infrequently shown in the cases of these women 
who marry, who, as a rule, bear few children, and, 
with rare exceptions, are unable to nurse their babies 
from their own breasts. That such results should 
be counted aS worthy and desirable is almost beyond 
belief; and yet they are generally so esteemed 
amongst those who are reckoned as constituting "the 
better classes." But, when considered, or measured, 
by the standard of righteousness, such results are 
not only abnormal, but they are an abomination in 
the sight of all that is natural and as it should be. 
Such views of what is right in these premises are 
the product of narrow and dogmatic conceptions of 
the human body, and its normal functionings on the 
part of those whose whole programme of ethics is 
negative — a mere series of antis, and don'ts and 
Thou shalt nots ! 

It is not at all pleasant to write it so, but the fact 
is that such conditions and teachings obtain, in 
large degree, among the church-taught peoples. If 
only these same people would follow the instruc- 
tions of the Book they so much revere (and of right 
they revere it) in which it is written "But now hath 
God set the members, every one of them in the body, 
as it hath pleased him," they would come much 
nearer correct living, both in theory and in prac- 
tice, than now they do ! 

Truth to tell, the enlightened soul of today has 
come to realize that asceticism, especially when car- 



132 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

ried to an extreme, does not result in the highest 
form of individual character. And, not to give this 
part of the present study too much of a religious 
trend, it is only fair to say that this principle of 
the wholesome use of bodily functions and endow- 
ments, rather than their annihilation and extinction, 
is in harmony with the teachings of Jesus Christ, of 
whom it is written that "He came both eating and 
drinking"; and that he was temperate in all things, 
and neither greedy nor totally inhibitive in any case 
is a matter of history. The ascetics of ancient days 
are no longer counted as the greatest among men 
and women; and the fact that negation alone never 
led to human progress and positive results is uni- 
versally acknowledged by all sane-thinking people. 
Use and not abuse is the constant law of right living 
and of'wholesome growth for all the sons and daugh- 
ters of men ; and the principle applies to all the 
qualities and faculties which go to make up the 
totality of human belongings. 

In these days when the idea of democracy is so 
universally in evidence and plead for, it is only in 
point to note that the human body is a democracy 
and not a monarchy, and that the world should be 
made safe for it, as such! The fact is that every 
composite whole which is made up of a number of 
different parts, each one of which contributes to the 
efficiency of the complete organization, is a democ- 
racy. And in every well-ordered composite organ- 



What Ought to be Done in tJiese Circumstances 133 

ism each part has its rightful place and its right to 
function according to the relative position it holds 
as regards the total whole. Under these conditions, 
it is not right that any one part of any such or- 
ganism should set itself up as superior to all the 
rest, and should tr}^ to rule them all, and make them 
all subject to its authority. And this is specially 
true of the democracy of the human body ! In such 
democracy, it ill becomes the belly, for instance, to 
set itself up as the ruler of all the rest of the human 
make-up, and to insist that all besides itself should 
minister solely to its desires for meat and drink. 
Nor should sex be permitted to lord it ruthlessly 
over the fellow-members among whom it is only one. 
On the other hand, it is by no means in harmony 
with this idea of the democracy of the body that the 
brain, or the soul, if you will, should set itself up 
as the monarch of all it surveys, and try to put into 
slavery to its dictates any or all other bodily func- 
tions or powers ! Much less should it be permitted 
to annihilate or to exterminate any God-given qual- 
ity in the body all of whose members He hath set 
therein ''as it hath pleased Him,'' to refer again to 
the quotation from the Bible which I made a few 
paragraphs back. Indeed, to try to destroy and 
make of none effect any quality or faculty which 
God has placed in the body and whose rightful func- 
tioning experience has proved is essential to the well- 
being of the body itself and of the soul which dwells 



134* Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

therein — to do this, or attempt to do this, is "med- 
dKng with nature's ways'* in a manner which is a 
sin of the first magnitude, and an abomination in 
the sight of gods and men! Let those who have so 
officiously, not to say piously, dogmatized by the 
use of the words I have just quoted, and which I 
have noted in a previous chapter, consider the 
righteousness of their teachings in view of this fact ! 
With these points established, namely, that all the 
organs and properties which the life-force has pro- 
duced should be used according to their original in- 
tent and purpose, both in all the lower and higher 
forms of life, mankind included ; and the further con- 
clusion that all the properties which man possesses 
in common with the orders of life below him, have, of 
right, a double form of expression, namely a material 
and a super-material form, to say it in that way; 
and having shown that all these conditions are God- 
ordained, we are now ready to declare that sex in 
the human family is no exception to this rule, but 
that it also has a rightful place in the human econ- 
omy, and that it has two rightful modes of expres- 
sion, namely, the reproductive and the afFectional, 
and that the exercise of both of these under the con- 
trol of the will and as a matter of choice and not 
of chance is a natural and a wholesome manner of 
living which tends to the growth and development of 
normal human beings! But, having come so far, 
we are brought face to face with the problem of 



What Ought to be Done m these Circvmistances 165 

how such righteous practice, especially in the mar- 
ried relation of men and women, can be realized. 

In reply to this supreme question of the present 
discussion, the first item to be emphasized is one 
already stated, namely, that both these forms of 
sex-expression must be made to come entirely under 
the control of the will; that they should always be 
matters of choice and not of chance; and that they 
should never be consummated without the mutual 
consent of both parties concerned. So much seems 
certain. The question still remains, how such man- 
ner of living can be brought about. Let us con- 
sider the reproductive factor in the problem first. 

In approaching this phase of the issue, namely, 
that of making the begetting of children a matter 
of choice and not of chance, it is well to call the at- 
tention of the reader to the status of the present or- 
der of things, in this regard, the basic facts of which 
are now as follows : 

As things now are, not only is chance a supreme 
factor in the bringing of children into the world, 
but such condition is made practically imperative 
and permanent by the enforcement of a state of ig- 
norance in the premises, which is buttressed by laws 
which make it virtually impossible to escape from 
such a way of living! As the laws of the United 
States now stand on its statute books, it is a crime, 
punishable by both fine and imprisonment, for any 
human being to impart to any other human being, 



136 Children hy Chance or by Choice 

any knowledge whatsoever, which will result in mak- 
ing the begetting of children a matter of choice 
rather than of chance. A condition which can but 
result in the maintenance of ignorance in this mat- 
ter which is of such vital importance. This fact 
may not be generally known by the rank and file of 
the people who are subject to such legal require- 
ments, but that the law is as here stated, is certainly 
true. It goes without saying, under these circum- 
stances, that nothing can be done to remedy pres- 
ent conditions until these laws are repealed ! I shall 
discuss in a later chapter the many and various rea- 
sons for the repeal of such laws ; enough to say, at 
this point in my argument, that they must be re- 
moved from our statute books before any progress 
can be made in the matter of begetting children by 
the fathers and mothers in this great land of ours. 
With the repeal of such laws, the whole subject 
of conception in the human species should be made 
a matter of scientific study and investigation by the 
ablest, the most learned and expert men and women 
along these lines that the world contains; and the 
pursuit of such quest should not be abandoned until 
the positive and definite knowledge is attained re- 
garding the entirety of the issue in hand. That 
is, definite, practical and absolutely reliable means 
for the wilful control of conception in the human 
family should be sought and found, and when thus 
obtained, such knowledge should be disseminated 



What Ought to be Done in these Circwmstances 137 

amongst all classes of men and women who are now 
endowed with the right and privilege of bringing 
children into this world! 

Now, I am well aware that this is a radical state- 
ment to make, under present conditions ; and I ask 
my readers to suspend judgment upon it for the 
present, and to hear me through, before forming 
a final opinion as to its truth or falsity. All I care 
to say about it just here is, that, in any event, it 
is the first move to make to bring about the possi- 
bility of bringing children into this world by choice 
rather than by chance, and that is the main issue 
under consideration in this treatise. 

As to just how such knowledge may be obtained, 
that is beyond the scope of this discussion. That is 
a matter for experts to work out. But this thing 
is true, namely, that the desire of millions of men 
and women goes out for the possession of such 
knowledge ; their imagination regards its attainment 
as a possibility, and it only remains for the inge- 
nuity of wise men and women who are naturally en- 
dowed with special ability to search out and find such 
knowledge, to attain the desired result. It is prac- 
tically a similar problem to that presented by the 
presence of diphtheria and yellow fever in the world. 
These diseases existed for ages, and the question 
was, how to be rid of them. The desires of man- 
kind demanded their extermination ; their imagina- 
tions conceived it possible that they should be over- 



138 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

come ; and the mgenuity of experts resulted in their 
mastery. In a similar manner the mastery of sex- 
expression, on its reproductive side, will one day 
be secured, and then the begetting of children will 
be a matter of choice and not of chance as it now 
is, but not before. 

Such a means for securing this result must be 
simple, effective, and harmless to the parties who 
utilize it. To find such may be no easy task, most 
certainly it will not be ; but the difficulties that con- 
front its discovery are by no means insurmountable 
when seriously attacked by the genius of the great 
men who will some day u^ndoubtedly undertake its 
finding-out. Many a life was sacrificed before the 
mystery of the cause of yellow fever was discovered ; 
but what was reached for was finally found, and 
tropical lands where once this deadly plague was 
supreme, are now among the healthiest spots on all 
the globe! There is an analogy here that is both 
hopeful and comforting. 

So much as to what needs to be done in order that 
conditions of choice and not of chance may obtain 
on the reproductive side of sex-expression. It re- 
mains to consider what will follow on the afFectional 
side of such expression, these things being estab- 
lished. 

And here, let it again be urged that such expres- 
sion has a rightful place in the economy of normal 
sex-living. I have already set this fact forth some- 



What Ought to be Done m these Circumstances 139 

what elaborately; but because of the wide-extended 
and generally-held opinions, or teachings, to the 
contrary, I here add some further proofs of its truth- 
fulness, as follows: 

And here, probably the supreme item that counts 
in favor of such an order of living is the fact that 
the universal normal desire of the human kind goes 
out in this direction. All normal men and women 
long for such expression of one of the most potent 
factors in all their beings. More than this, the 
experiences of millions of the highest types of the 
human race which have ever lived have proven, be- 
yond all doubt, that such manner of life is not only 
possible, but 1:hat it tends to their highest develop- 
ment in all the departments of their being. And not 
only is this true, but it has further been amply dem- 
onstrated that the lack of such affectional expression 
tends to debilitate and weaken, and throw out of 
balance whole multitudes of men and women who are 
thus deprived of an essential element in their growth 
and development. This is another fact that is per- 
haps not capable of statistical proof, but it is one 
which is well known by all who have made careful 
and correct investigations along these lines ; and is 
of far more significance than is generally accorded 
by the rank and file, who have long been kept in 
ignorance of the real facts in the premises. How- 
ever, these same members of the rank and file are, 
very many of them, really aware of the situation, 



140 Children by Chance or hy Choice 

especially as it pertains to themselves, only they do 
not say so! 

So true is this which I have just stated that a 
leading expert in these matters, a man of cool judg- 
ment and wide experience in the study of such cases, 
has said that the suppression, or the attempted sup- 
pression, of the sex-impulse, on the afFectional side, 
is the cause of more suffering and woe in the human 
family than is excess in the same part of the make-up 
of mankind! As some one has truly said, "sup- 
pression is always dangerous ; when windows are 
always kept shut, the house soon grows sour and 
moldy." Not only is this a sane general principle, 
but it is especially in point in the case of sex-expres- 
sion on the affectional side. I am well aware that 
"one swallow does not make a summer," nor will a 
single instance prove the point I am now present- 
ing; nevertheless "straws show which way the cur- 
rent flows," and here is a straw that came floating on 
this particular stream and claimed my attention as 
I was writing this morning, as follows: I quote a 
few lines from a letter which came to my desk just 
now, the same being written by a woman who is 
suffering from an enforced inability to express her- 
self on the affectional side of her sex-nature. She 
is not an abnormal woman, not from a low class of 
life. On the contrary, she is descended from a long 
line of Puritan ancestry, and is herself one of the 
best educated and most companionable women along 



What Ought to he Done m these Circumstances 141 

all the best and highest interests in life, I have ever 
known. And yet she writes: "Every day I am 
doing battle with my nerves, which are still badly 
upset because of my insistent longing for what I 
cannot have, namely, the satisfaction of the afFec- 
tional side of my sex-nature. I get days, or parts 
of days, without torment, but the main issue is con- 
stantly with me, in greater or less degree. My 
nervousness has developed into muscular contrac- 
tions which are a torture to me that is extremely 
painful. These are as automatic as the beating of 
my heart, and the only way I can control them is 
to play *dead dog,' all over, including my mind. I 
still want what I need as much as ever, and it is a 
continual and wearing task to exist without it." If 
this woman were a hypochondriac, or a degenerate, 
what she so honestly says would not have much sig- 
nificance ; but she is none of these, as I have already 
said. Nor is her case an isolated one, as multitudes 
of her sisters, all over the civilized world, could 
testify if they dared to tell the truth regarding them- 
selves in this part of their being. And it is because 
of this wide-spread condition amongst women, and 
much more so among men, that the issue I am now 
considering is so important, and demands the at- 
tention and helpfulness which the situation calls for. 
It is for this reason that I am writing as I am. 

Not only is it true that untold suffering is caused 
by this untoward condition of affairs, but it is 



142 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

equally true that such suppression of a natural func- 
tion of the human body, mind and soul, has resulted 
in numerous and greatly-to-be-regretted sexual ab- 
errations on the part of large numbers of men and 
women. To name and describe these is beyond the 
scope of this book, but they are well known to all 
who are posted in the science of right living, and 
volumes have been written which deal with these phe- 
nomena. Such volumes contain the record of trage- 
dies of the deepest dye, and are pathetic and sorrow- 
ful to the limit of human possibility to endure suf- 
fering. That wholesome and righteous relief 
should be obtained for these afflicted bodies and 
souls is a truth that needs no argument to establish. 
And that such relief could be obtained if the science 
of conception in the human family were mastered 
and made subject to choice and not to chance, and 
such definite knowledge were universally dissemi- 
nated, is a self-demonstrating proposition. Add to 
this an intelligent knowledge and practice of "The 
Art of Love" among husbands and wives, and the 
problem I am discussing would be successfully solved, 
beyond peradventure. However, to make such as- 
sertion is one thing, and to establish it by unde- 
niable proofs is another thing. And to so establish 
it will be the work of future chapters. 



CHAPTER X 

THE PROS AND CONS OF THE ISSUES INVOLVED IN THE 
POSITION JUST TAKEN 

The first and most essential point to be deter- 
mined in settling the issue immediately in hand is 
to make sure of what is absolutely right in the pre- 
mises, that is, to find out what the true law of life 
and of life progress, in this part of the being and 
make-up of normal men and women, is. And in order 
to do this successfully, for men and women as they 
go, it will be necessary to call the attention of the 
reader to certain fundamental facts which must be 
brought into evidence just here; the first of which is 
the radical difference that exists between what is 
called morality and what is really right! Or, to 
phrase the matter in another way, the first item in 
this count is to point out the difference between mor- 
ality and righteousness. To the consideration of this 
difference, the following paragraphs are herewith 
submitted : 

The essential difference between the ultimate sig- 
nificance of these words is readily seen when their 
derivation is noted, as follows: The word, morals, 

143 



144 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

is derived from the Latin word mores, which prim- 
arily means custom, or habit. That is, according to 
its original meaning, a moral act was one that was 
customary, or habitual ; or, to put it into more mod- 
ern phrase, it was something that everybody did; 
and to this meaning, there was eventually added the 
idea that these things that everybody did should be 
of such nature that nobody should disapprove of the 
same. That is, a moral act is one which a person 
can do and not have the neighbors find fault with its 
doing and its doer ! As to whether such act is really 
right or wrong, when brought to the test of how it 
really affects the doer in body, mind or estate, this 
element enters not a whit into the question of its 
morality. In a word, morality is simply an arbi- 
trary code of life and of living which has become 
established by custom, and which has, by sheer per- 
sistence of its long being what it is, become fixed or 
"proper" in the eyes of supposedly good people. 
That is, morality is "the proper thing" and immor- 
ality is what is counted the reverse of this. 

And now, because of this fact, and because, acci- 
dentally, as it were, here and there some acts have 
met with approval and some have met an opposite 
fate, and because the world is large and its people 
are numerous, and because, under primitive condi- 
tions, these different people had little knowledge of 
each other and each other's doings — for all these 
reasons, it came about that moralities differed in 



Tlie Pros and Cons of the Issues Involved 145 

different localities and among different peoples, so 
that what was considered moral in one place would 
be counted immoral in another place, and vice versa. 
The result of this is that morality is really a matter 
of locality, or of geography, if you will, as a 
moment's consideration will readily prove. Let a few 
instances in point be noted, just here: 

In ancient Sparta, it was a moral act to expose 
imperfectly formed babies to the vultures who ate 
them up ! In modern United States we organize so ci- 
ties to take special care of such children. In some 
sections of India, to this day, it is a moral act to 
burn a widow on the funeral pyre of her deceased 
husband; but the English who now rule that land, 
declare such act immoral, and are doing all in their 
power to exterminate such practice. In many locali- 
ties dancing is counted as immoral, and theater-going 
and card-playing are included in the same list of 
things that should not be done by moral people. 
When I was a boy, if a woman should have ridden 
through the streets of our little country town "cross- 
saddle" she would have been counted an immoral 
woman, and have been banished, unanimously, from 
the "good society" of that locality. Now a side- 
saddle is a "back number," and our women ride 
horses astride, and our girls are perfectly at home on 
bicycles. No one now thinks of calling such immoral ! 

But I need not protract these illustrations. We 
can all call to mind similar cases without number, 



146 Children hy Chance or by Choice 

and every such case is only another proof of my 
original contention, namely, that morality is almost 
entirely a matter of geography. 

Again : The derivation of the word righteousness 
shows its essential import and its real significance. 
This word comes to us from the Anglo Saxon word, 
"recht," which means straight, that is, that which 
always goes in one and the same direction, and in 
which there is "no variableness, neither shadow of 
turning," to use a forceful phrase which has an 
excellent origin. 

Now, measured by the standard of righeousness, 
any act must stand or fall by the way in which it 
tallies with the eternal and never-varying laws that 
pertain to the manner of doing, and the results which 
follow the doing, of such act. The item as to whether 
onlookers approve of such act has nothing to do 
with the case, so far as its being as it should be is 
concerned. If it accords with the eternal laws that 
apply in the premises, and results in correct and 
wholesome outcomes, that is all that is required ; and 
this test is what determines the real status of any 
act, as right or wrong! 

Under these conditions, it is clearly evident, with- 
out further argument, that there may be a great 
difference between what are counted moral acts and 
what are really righteous acts ! A moral act may be 
really unrighteous, and a really righteous act may be 
counted immoral, and vice versa. But before God 



The Pros and Cons of the Issues Involved 147 

there can be but one standard of measurement for 
any and all human acts, and that is the standard of 
righteousness and not of morality. Think seriously 
of this, for it has an immense significance in the 
matter we are considering. 

Looking still further into the matter of righteous- 
ness as it stands related to human actions, note this, 
namely, that the rightness or wrongness of any such 
act, judged by its results, must be determined by the 
effect such act produces upon the object upon which 
it "lands," so to speak; and note further that the 
results of any human act can only "land" in one or 
both of two places, namely, upon the individual him- 
self or upon some one, or something other than 
himself. That is, everything you or I can do will 
either affect us alone, or some one or something other 
than ourselves, or all of us together. All of which 
means that the righteousness of any human act, 
judged by its results, must be looked for in the effect 
it produces upon that upon which it acts. If such 
result makes for the betterment of that upon which 
it acts, the act is good, or righteous. If it makes for 
the harm or undoing of what it acts upon, the act is 
bad or unrighteous. And, in either case, neither 
custom nor what the neighbors think, has anything 
to do with the real righteousness of what is done, one 
way or another! These are fundamental principles 
which should always be kept in mind when determin- 
ing the rightness or the wrongness of any human act. 



148 Children hy Chance or by Choice 

Especially is this true in the case of the human acts 
I shall call the attention of the reader to before we 
are through with this chapter. 

Just to get the reader into the way of judging 
human actions by this standard of measurement, let 
us take a few acts that I have previously spoken 
about, and see how they will tally under such treat- 
ment. For instance, take as simple an example as 
that of the manner in which it is righteous or 
unrighteous for a woman to ride a horse ! There are 
two ways in which the manner of riding may result, 
namely, its effect upon the woman and upon the 
horse. If either of these is harmed by the way in 
which the riding is done, such act is unrighteous, or 
bad. If one or both are benefited the act is righteous, 
or good. In either case, what the neighbors think 
about it, or how the act is regarded by custom or by 
"good society," has nothing to do with the case. And 
all the other human acts I have noted in this chapter, 
and all that you or any can think of, can be rightly 
judged of, and their rightness or wrongness deter- 
mined correctly by this rule. 

Note further, that the ultimate rightness or 
wrongness of any act cannot be determined by any 
outside "authority," that is by what some person, 
or any number of persons, more or less, may say 
about it. Nothing is right, nor can be made right, 
simply because some authority declares it to be so, 
and it makes little difference, in the final round-up, 



The Pros and Cons of the Issues Involved 149 

what such alleged "authority" may be, whether it is 
some single individual who is hedged about by pomp 
and circumstance, or is a mass of humanity, as repre- 
sented by some "law-making body," or a "referen- 
dum" which includes all the people in the world ! No 
one of these, nor all of them together, can make that 
right which is essentially wrong, or vice versa! Only 
those acts are right or wrong which, both as to cause 
and effect, are grounded in the ultimate laws that 
pertain to their doing. Or, if you may choose to say 
it so, (and I have no objection to your saying it so) 
only that is right which The Maker of All Things, 
the Eternal First Cause of Everything, has made to 
be right ! The only thing to be careful about, if the 
proposition is put in this way, is to be very sure as to 
just what the Maker of All Things has made to be 
right, before passing upon any given act! In all 
ages there have been those who have, of their own 
liking, put a "thus saith the Lord" before words 
which really had nothing behind them but the voice 
of the human being who uttered them ! Well is it said 
in the Book : "Prove all things ! Hold fast to that 
which is good," and Jesus never said a better thing 
than: "Why, even of yourselves, judge ye not what 
is right?" That is, to clinch my argument just here, 
it behooves all of us, and everybody, to get down to, 
and find out, the eternally correct order of things, 
as originally determined, when we undertake to settle 
the rightness or wrongness, the righteousness or the 



150 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

unrighteousness of any human act! To prove the 
correctness or the incorrectness of this theory, it 
might be well for the reader to try out some of his or 
her own acts, when judged by this rule. Ask your- 
self the question, and answer it truthfully : Does this 
act of mine originate in a correctly-grounded law of 
my being, or is it only an expression of what I want, 
regardless of anything but my own desire ; and does 
the effect that it produces result in the betterment or 
the harm of myself, or of any other individual or 
thing upon which it "lands"? Try out a few of your 
own acts by this rule, and see how you come out, and 
then you will be in good shape to pass judgment upon 
the special conclusions that I shall come to before 
this chapter is done. 

But before you do this, let me make one more sug- 
gestion which will help you to render just judgment 
in what you are about to decide upon, as follows : 

I have said that the result of any human act can 
only "land" on one or both of two objectives, namely, 
yourself, or some person or thing other than your- 
self. Now add to this, that such result can only 
express itself for good or ill in the effect it produces 
upon the physical, the mental or the spiritual make- 
up of the individual it lands upon ! All that makes 
up yourself or any other being is composed of one or 
all of these three elements, body, mind and spirit. 
These three things make up all there is of anybody, 
and the only way in which anybody can be affected, 



The Pros and Cons of the Issues Involved 151 

in any way, must be through one or more of these 
parts of one's being. Some acts of ours will only 
affect the physical part of human beings. The 
instance I have cited as to the manner in which a 
woman should ride a horse is such a case, where only 
the material quality of the rider is involved. The 
only question to be considered in this case, so far as 
the woman is concerned, is, what manner of riding 
best suits the physical comfort and well-being of the 
rider? And a similar question might rightly be asked 
regarding the horse, but that need not be considered 
here. 

But there are other acts of ours that go far 
beyond the mere physical part of a human being's 
make-up, and involve not only the mental, but also 
the spiritual well- or ill-being of such. The use of 
spirituous liquors might serve as a somewhat crude 
illustration on this point, as it is a well-established 
fact that such use, especially when carried to the 
extreme of drunkenness, does affect the physical, the 
mental and the spiritual status of the user. Here, no 
ghost need come from the grave to tell us that the use 
of alcohol, at least when carried to such excess, does 
result in the harm of the user in all three of these 
qualities of his nature. In judging, then, of the 
righteousness or unrighteousness of getting drunk, 
the issue is settled as unrighteous, because it harms 
the individual who indulges in such act, in his physi- 
cal, his mental and his spiritual being. The issue as 



152 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

to the morality or immorality of getting drunk, that 
isj of the custom itself, or of what people think about 
it, cuts no figure in the case at all. The sole point 
to be considered is how it affects the individual upon 
whom such act "lands." 

All this is undeniably true, and the principles it 
involves are equally forceful in judging the rightness 
or the wrongness of any and all human acts. In a 
word, it is not the morality of such acts, that is, 
what is customary, or what people think about them 
which is the final arbiter in such cases ; but how the 
physical, the mental or the spiritual condition of the 
party, or parties, concerned, one or all, are affected 
thereby. I repeat, for emphasis, that in no other 
way than in one or all of these three, can any act or 
acts of any one human being, or of any number of 
human beings, affect any one or all of mankind! 
These principles are of universal application in test- 
ing the righteousness or the unrighteousness of all 
the acts of all the sons and daughters of men, in all 
times and in all places, upon the face of the earth. 
Keep these principles in mind, in addition to the ones 
I first laid down, when you are judging the rightness 
or the wrongness of your own acts or those of your 
neighbors ! And remember, too, that the force of the 
Golden Rule comes in just here, namely, that you 
do unto others (especially in the affairs we are now 
considering) as you would have others do unto you. 
Now judge a few of your own acts by these princi- 



The Pros and Cons of the Issues Involved 153 

pies ! And when you have done this, do not forget to 
keep all these principles in mind, when you come to 
judge the conclusions I shall finally come to in what 
I am writing! 

Having thus laid what seems to me a broad and 
deep and sure foundation for the particular struc- 
ture I purpose to erect upon it, let us proceed to 
build that structure as follows: 

The "Pros and Cons'* to be considered in this 
chapter relate especially and specifically to the right- 
ness or wrongness of the two ways of sex-expression 
in the human family. These two modes of expression 
are, as I have said many times, first, that of repro- 
duction, which mankind holds in common with all 
other life-forms; and, second, that of "afFectional" 
sex-expression, which the forms of life below him 
know nothing about. That these two forms of sex- 
expression exist in the human family we all know. 
The questions to be settled regarding one or both of 
them is the rightness or the wrongness of such 
expression, and in answering such questions my 
purpose is to prove the case, or cases, one way or 
the other, by the application of the rule that I have 
just laid down for determining the righteousness or 
unrighteousness of human actions. Let us first 
address ourselves to the reproductive form of sex- 
expression : 

And in order to deal fairly with this question, it is 
necessary first, to have a comprehensive knowledge 



154 Children by Chance or hy Choice 

of just how it is that the reproduction of life-forms 
is brought about. It would seem that such knowledge 
ought to be a universal possession, at this time in 
the world's history ; but, as a matter of fact, it is an 
item of almost universal ignorance, especially as it 
pertains to the human family ! And such ignorance 
is especially pronounced among "the female of the 
species," married and unmarried, (especially the 
latter) because it is not considered "wise" nor 
"proper" for these to know about such things ! 
Especially is it held that these latter, unmarried 
females, should be kept "innocent" along these lines. 
To call things by their right names, these young 
people are kept IGNORANT, instead of innocent, a 
condition that has resulted in untold harm, all 
through the ages, to the parties who have been the 
victims of such an untoward state, of these essential 
affairs that pertain to human life. And it can be 
said, with equal truthfulness, that comparatively few 
men, married or unmarried, have any definite knowl- 
edge regarding the reproduction of life-forms, and 
their IGNORANCE is especially dense as it applies 
to the human species. 

No one, not even the wisest, knows all about these 
things ; but there is enough known to make the pos- 
session of such knowledge of value to every intelli- 
gent human being. It is knowledge of this sort that 
I shall proceed to consider. It is for this reason, 
namely, the IGNORANCE of humanity along these 



The Pros and Cons of the Issues Involved 155 

lines, that I am compelled to stop, right here, and 
explain these things, if I am to get any results that 
are worth while from the readers of this book, take 
them by and large. And it is for the "by and large" 
that I am writing! Did not Jesus say well when he 
said : "I come not to call the righteous, but sinners 
to repentance"? Those who know all about these 
things need not read what I am writing ; but the list 
of such is so small as to be almost a negligible item 
on this count ! 

Here, then, is a statement of the essential facts 
regarding the reproduction of life-forms in this 
world : 

All life-forms are composed of cells which make up 
the material bodies of what is thus built up. These 
cells, when complete, consist of two parts, a positive 
and a negative, and both of these must be present in 
order that the cell may be effective and do the work 
which it exists to perform. If either of these ele- 
ments, the positive or the negative, is lacking, the cell 
is practically dead; anyhow, it is incapable of pro- 
ducing any results whatsoever! Such a cell, or a 
cell in this condition, is spoken of as "infertile." But, 
given these two elements, the cells increase and 
multiply, and cause more like themselves to be, and 
it is by means of such increase of cell-multiplications 
that all life-forms grow and become what they are. 

Now, there is an old, a very old Latin phrase (for 
the ultimate fact in this matter has been known for 



156 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

a long time. The only trouble is, that it has been 
known to a very fem, and that such knowledge has 
been systematically kept from the very many, for 
ages and ages.) which reads, omne vivum ex ovo, 
which, in plain English means: Every living thing 
comes from an Qgg\ which is only another way of 
saying that every living thing comes from a cell. For 
an Qgg, any e:gg, is nothing but a celll Of course, 
we all know that there are infinite varieties of eggs, 
so far as their forms are concerned ; but all eggs are 
alike in one respect, namely, that they each contain 
a single cell, or half of a complete single cell, to be 
exact, which, in itself, possesses only one of the ele- 
ments which goes to make up a productive cell, which 
can cause more cells to be. Such original cell in an 
e^gg as it is at first produced, may be considered a 
positive or a negative, but it is only one of these, and 
so long as it remains just this, and nothing more, it 
is practically lifeless, and wholly inefficient so far as 
producing any further life-forms is concerned. 

On the other hand, for every Qgg that is produced 
in this single cell form, there is provided a mate, as 
it were ; that is, a positive for its negative, or a nega- 
tive for its positive, so to speak ; and it is by a union 
of these two elements, one of which exists originally 
within the Qgg, and the other of which has its being 
outside the egg, that the egg-cell is made efficient and 
able to do what it had no ability to do before such 
union was effected. This union of these two elements 



The Pros and Cons of the Issues Involved 157 

which are essential to the efficiency of an egg, is 
called fertilization ; and every egg must be fertilized 
by merging into itself an opposite, something which 
comes from its proper mate, before it can become 
efficient for life's uses. But, once fertilized, every 
egg possesses the possibility of causing more to be, of 
the same kind as that which produced itself. This is 
a very simple statement of what takes place in all 
reproduction of life-forms, of every sort and 
description. 

Now there are some life-forms which possess, in a 
single body, the power of producing both the positive 
and the negative elements of cells ; that is, they can 
produce eggs and that which fertilizes eggs, all from 
the same body ; but, even in these, such positives and 
negatives are produced apart from each other to 
start with, and their union takes place farther along 
in their mutually separate existence. In other cases, 
the single-celled egg is produced in one life-form and 
its fertilizing mate is produced in another life-form, 
and these two elements, thus produced apart, must be 
united before fertilization can take place. Many 
flowers are fine illustrations of the first of these, 
though all flowers are not built on this plan. An 
apple blossom is of the sort in which both these 
qualities are contained in a single life-form. At the 
base of each apple blossom there is a little pocket, 
so to say, in which there is produced a tiny apple-egg 
waiting to be fertilized and so to bring about the 



158 Children hy Chance or by Choice 

growth of an apple and apple-seeds from which more 
apple-trees and apples may come in turn. Up from 
this little apple-pocket, there grows a small tube, 
which extends as far as the top of the apple blossom 
and which is capped, or topped, by a little mouth, 
or wider opening into the tube which leads to the 
egg-pocket. All around this tube there stand little 
projections from the center of the blossom which 
bear the vitalizing material which the apple-egg 
needs for its fertilization. This material is like a 
very fine powder, or dust, and is called pollen. It is 
composed of an almost infinite number of little pollen 
grains, any one of which will fertilize the apple-egg, 
if it can come into proper contact with it. To make 
such proper contact between the apple-egg and the 
apple-pollen, a number of grains of the fertilizing 
dust fall into the mouth which caps the egg-tube, and 
pass down that tube into the pocket where lies the 
apple-egg, waiting to be fertilized. Some one of these 
many pollen grains unites with the egg-cell, and all 
the rest which have come down the tube, any and all 
of which were able and ready to cause such fertiliza- 
tion, perish and count for nothing, so far as realizing 
their original purpose is concerned ! Besides this, an 
infinite number of the pollen grains which are pro- 
duced by the apple blossom, never succeed in reaching 
the egg-tube at all, but fall to the ground, an inef- 
fective surplus, which is of no value whatsoever, so 
far as their real efficiency is concerned. It is in this 



The Pros and Cons of the Issues Involved 159 

way that millions of pollen grains perish to where a 
single one is effective, a condition of things which is 
known as the "prodigality of nature," and which 
seems to be necessary in order that the fertilization 
of apple-eggs may be made certain. That is, the 
proportion of fertilizing grains of apple-pollen to 
the number of apple-eggs to be fertilized, is an 
infinite number of the one, to a limited number of the 
other; and this is a principle that obtains in the 
reproduction of all life-forms, from the lowest to the 
highest. Keep this particular point in mind for use 
later in this talk ! 

What I have just described tells what happens 
when both the egg and its fertilizer are produced in 
one and the same individual life-form. There is 
another condition in which the egg is produced by 
one life-form and its proper fertilizer in another 
life-form of a similar nature, but which functions in 
a different way so far as reproduction is concerned. 
Some varieties of strawberries are of this sort. In 
some kinds of strawberries, the eggs are borne on one 
plant and the fertilizing substance on another. In 
such cases, both kinds of plants must be set in the 
same strawberry bed, or there will be no fruit ! It is 
because of failure to do this, that some people who 
try to raise strawberries fail in their attempt. But 
here is the wonderful thing in this case, that the 
pollen from the fertilizing plants will travel several 
feet through the air to meet and fertilize the blossoms 



160 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

of the egg-bearing plants ! Such a bed may be set 
with three or four rows of egg-bearing plants, to one 
row of pollen-bearing plants, and still the egg- 
bearing blossoms will be fertilized by the pollen that 
blows over from the one row to the three or four. 
But this shows what a lot of pollen must be produced 
in order that, subject to such waste by having to 
travel through the air, the fertilization of the egg- 
bearing blossom may be made certain. As a matter 
of fact, so much pollen is produced by the pollen- 
bearing plants that a perfect shower of this fertiliz- 
ing material is blown across, from row to row when 
plants are thus set. And I am telling this to empha- 
size the fact of the "prodigality of nature" in pro- 
ducing such a great amount of fertilizing material in 
proportion to the eggs to be fertilized, for this is an 
item which will prove to be of the greatest possible 
moment in a conclusion we are headed for, and which 
we shall arrive at in due time. Don't forget this ! 

Corn presents another most interesting variety of 
fertilization. Here, the corn-eggs are located on the 
cob, every kernel being such an ^gg^ or cell, and all 
are surrounded by the covering of the husk. From 
each of these cells, or primary kernels, an egg-tube 
grows and passes up inside the husk till it reaches 
clear outside this sheath. These egg-tubes are called 
"corn-silk" and everybody knows about them as such. 
But here is what comparatively few people do know, 
namely, that every one of these threads of corn-silk is 



The Pros and Cons of the Issues Involved 161 

a hollow tube, where it protrudes into the air; and 
every one of these tubes has a little mouth at its 
outer end, waiting to catch and carry into the tubes 
the fertilizing pollen, which the corn-egg is waiting 
for down below. This fertilizing tube is just like that 
of an apple blossom, only it is much longer. 

On a corn plant, the pollen-bearing blossom is at 
the very top of the stalk, and so is located several 
feet from the "ears" where the corn-eggs are borne. 
These pollen-bearing blossoms grow on the "com 
tassel," and they bear pollen just at the time that 
the "corn-silk" thrusts itself outside the husk. They 
produce untold numbers of pollen-grains, which fall 
in a perfect shower upon all below them, covering the 
corn-leaves, and even the ground, with a yellow 
powder which is nothing more than the surplus of 
fertilizing material gone to waste ! Of course, out of 
such an infinite supply of fertilizing germs falling 
all about, it is an easy matter for the little mouths, 
at the tops of the corn-silks, to catch what they are 
waiting for; and, once caught, what they catch 
travels the full length of the silk-tubes and fertilizes 
the corn-eggs below. Isn't this wonderful beyond all 
telling? And note, once more, the almost infinite 
surplus of pollen-germs that are produced in com- 
.parison with the very few which are really utilized 
for actual fertilization. Something of how great this 
surplus is, any one who has walked through a corn- 
field when the corn-tassels were in bloom, and had his 



162 Children by Chance or by Choice 

or her clothing covered with the yellow dust, can 
realize. And remember, too, that each pollen-grain 
is so small that several of them could easily stand on 
the point of a needle ! How many of them must there 
be on an acre of corn? How many in all the corn- 
fields in all the world? The proposition to estimate 
their number is staggering! And the great bulk of 
them all go to waste and never produce the fertiliza- 
tion they were made to effect ! 

Our common red clover presents another most 
interesting method of fertilization, going to show the 
necessity of the "prodigality of nature" in this mat- 
ter of producing fertilizing germs in such abundance. 
In this form of plant-life, the pollen has to be carried 
from plant to plant by the wings of bumble-bees! 
These bees go from flower to flower to gather the 
honey which these blossoms produce, and in doing 
this their wings become covered with the pollen- 
grains, which their buzzing shakes ofl^ when they 
touch the blossoms which need fertilization! The 
common honey-bee cannot eff^ect such fertilization, 
because his proboscis is too short to reach the honey 
which is stored in a red-clover blossom, and these bees 
never try to gather honey from these blossoms. And 
so, when there are no bumble-bees, there are no clover 
seeds ! There may be clover blossoms, but no clover 
seeds. And this, too, is wonderful beyond telling! 
There are many other plants which have to be fertil- 
ized by the help of insects, and all have to produce 



The Pros and Cons of the Issues Involved 163 

an unlimited supply of fertilizing material. This 
infinite supply of such material is the chief point I 
wish to call attention to in what I have so far said, 
and to make this item in the count still more forcible, 
I add a few more words regarding this same pheno- 
menon as it applies to the eggs themselves, that is, 
to their super-abundance and over-supply as they 
primarily exist. 

A simple case of surplus egg production will well 
illustrate what I mean. If you will think of the 
number of apple-blossoms, or cherry-blossoms on one 
of such trees, and then think of the small number of 
apples or cherries that come to maturity on these 
same trees, you will have a good idea of the *'prodi- 
gality of nature" in the making of apple-eggs or 
cherry-eggs. Every blossom on the trees contains a 
primary egg which has in it the possibility of becom- 
ing fertilized, and of reproducing after its kind. 
But not one in hundreds, not to say thousands, in 
many cases, of these eggs ever become fertilized, 
much less ever bear fruit ! The overwhelming 
majority of them perish in their incomplete state, 
and die and fall to the ground, and thus come to 
nothing, so far as their initial possibilities and pur- 
pose are concerned! Keep this in mind also, along 
with the tremendous waste of fertilizing material, to 
which I have previously referred. Later, I shall ask 
you to think of what would happen if everi/ infertile 
egg that is produced should become fertilized, and 



164 Children by Chance or by Choice 

thus cause more of its kind to be ! But I'll not urge 
that point here and now, but will come to it in due 
course of time. 

And let me add, just here, that I have gone into 
these interesting and wonderful details as I have in 
the hope of arousing in the minds of my readers a 
correct and rightful mental attitude towards the 
whole subject of the reproduction of life-forms in 
this world. To any one who sees such things aright, 
the whole process is so wonderful, not to say aston- 
^ishing, that it inspires the most profound reverence 
in the mind of the beholder ! In the presence of such 
phenomena, one feels the force of the words : "Put off 
thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon 
thou standest is holy ground." True it is that, to 
the great mass of men and women, who are ignorant 
of the facts I have recounted, the whole process of 
reproduction is not a matter of indifference only, but 
something to make sport of ; and in the higher forms 
of life, to be counted as vulgar, not to say "nasty." 
And this, by many people who count themselves as 
virtuous to the utmost, and as educated to the most 
respectable degree! To many of these people, the 
whole subject is practically repulsive, and most 
certainly taboo. I want my readers to free them- 
selves from any such untoward mental attitude, not 
only in regard to what I have so far written, but 
even to the end of the argument I am now making. 
Coming up into the realm of the animal kingdom, 



The Pros and Cons of the Issues Involved 165 

and studying the means and methods of reproduction 
there, we find that the same phenomena occur here 
that obtain in the life-forms we have already exam- 
ined. Here the old Latin phrase, ''omne vivum ex 
ovo,^^ still holds good, and it is still true that every 
living thing comes from an ^g^. And these eggs 
which produce animal life-forms are "infertile" at 
first, just as they are in the vegetable kingdom; that 
is, they are only the half of what can become a com- 
plete whole only by being "fertilized" by their proper 
mates. Some one has given us the phrase "the 
duality of all unity in nature," words which perfectly 
express the facts and conditions we are now dealing 
with. 

Now, in all advances which the life-force makes as 
it manifests itself in the higher forms of its expres- 
sion, some variations appear in the conditions of the 
materials it works with. Some of the old, or former, 
conditions remain, and new ones, or variations in 
some of the old ones, are brought into being. Accord- 
ingly, as we observe the phenomena of reproduction 
in the animal kingdom, we shall find that, while the 
essential elements are the same in both cases, yet 
there are differences to be noted, some of which are 
as follows: 

So far as the ova^ or primary eggs are concerned, 
they are practically the same in both the vegetable 
and the animal kingdoms ; but there is a variation 
in the animal fertilizing material, which, in this realm 



166 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

of life-forms, takes the form of a fluid, instead of a ' 
dry powder, as in the vegetable world, as we have 
already seen. A change of name is also given to the 
animal fertilizing material, which is known as sper- 
matazoa, instead of pollen. The word spermatazoa 
(means something that gives life, and a most signifi- 
cant word it is, for it describes that whose mission 
it is to give life to the otherwise lifeless eggs which 
it is made to "fertilize." Like pollen, this fertilizing 
material consists of an infinite number of cells, or 
germs ; but it differs from pollen in this respect, that, 
whereas, pollen-germs have no power to move them- 
selves about on their own initiative, the spermatazoa 
have such ability. They are not subject to the 
action of winds, or tides, or bees, to effect their pur- 
pose, but have the means of reaching what they are 
designed to meet "under their own power," as me- 
chanics say. To accomplish this, these life-giving 
germs float, or swim, as it were, in a mucous fluid 
which is provided for their preservation and utiliza- 
tion, and in which they live and move and have their 
being very much as fishes live in water. And as is 
the case with pollen, there are literally millions of 
these germs in a space that is almost inconceivably 
small. Like pollen, many of these animal life-germs, 
or spermatazoa, could be held on the point of a 
needle ! This whole mass of spermatazoa and the 
substance in which they float, is known as "seminal 
fluid." And, just as the vegetable-cells are brought 



The Pros and Cons of the Issues Involved 167 

into contact with the pollen-grains and so are fertil- 
ized, even so the animal egg-cells are met and made 
"fertile" by meeting and coming in contact with the 
germs contained in the seminal fluid. In this particu- 
lar the processes of fertilization are practically alike 
in the two kingdoms of life forms. 

And, as is the case in the vegetable kingdom, some- 
times both the egg-producing and the fertilizing- 
causing material are produced in one and the same 
material body. This is the case in many of the lower 
forms of animal life, the angle worm being a good 
illustration of this sort. In the body of each indi- 
vidual angle worm there are located separate organs 
which respectively produce angle worm eggs and 
the seminal fluid which can fertilize them; just as in 
an apple-blossom, both the apple-egg and the pollen 
are produced by one and the same individual apple- 
bloom. This condition of both eggs and that which 
fertilizes them originating and coming from one and 
the same physical body is common to many of the 
lower forms of animal life, as I have already said. 

But, in the higher forms of animal life, the organs 
which produce eggs and those which produce that 
which fertilizes them are located In separate physical 
bodies, each for each. The bodies which possess the 
organs which produce eggs are known as female 
bodies, and those which have organs for producing 
egg-fertilization material are known as male bodies. 
That is, all female animals produce eggs, and all male 



168 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

animals produce seminal fluid ; and, as is the case in 
plants, the fertilization of the Qgg can be brought 
about only by bringing the eggs and that which 
fertilizes them into contact with each other. 

Now, this contact of these two life-form-producing 
elements, the eggs and the spermatazoa, is brought 
about in various ways. Generally speaking, all 
animal eggs are produced in the female bodies which 
originate them; and all seminal fluids have their 
source in organs which are located within the male 
bodies from which they come. In the case of some 
animals, the eggs are expelled from the body of the 
female which produces them, before they meet the 
seminal fluid and become fertilized; and with other 
animals, the fertilization takes place while the ^gg, 
or eggs, are still within the female body. Fishes are 
animals of the first-mentioned sort. The female fish 
expel the eggs from their bodies in shallow water, 
and after they are thus placed, the male fish swims 
above them and pours out over them a quantity of 
seminal fluid which mingles with the eggs and 
fertilizes them. It will be seen at once that there is 
bound to be a great waste of both eggs and of seminal 
fluid when fertilization is made to take place in this 
way; and because this is so, we again find a "prodi- 
gality of nature" in the fact that many single female 
fish will lay several million eggs at one ^'spawning," 
as it is called, while the number of spermatazoa that 



TJi^ Pros and Cons of the Issues Involved 169 

a male fish will emit for their fertilization is almost 
beyond computation! 

When fish eggs are thus fertilized, the life-process 
for their growth and development begins and goes on, 
fostered by the action of the sun and the water; 
until, in due time, the eggs "hatch" and new indi- 
vidual fish-bodies (or babies) thus come into being. 
This is the wonderful story of how reproduction 
takes place in the order of fishes. 

Again, in the case of birds and all sorts of fowls, 
the process of reproduction varies a little, as fol- 
lows: Here, the eggs are fertilized while they are 
still inside the body of the female which produces 
them, and are then expelled from the body, or 
"layed," after such fertilization. Afterward they 
may be "hatched" by a process that everybody 
knows about, and so I need not tell about here. How- 
ever, if such eggs are not fertilized before they are 
"layed," they will never hatch! And this is a fact 
that multitudes of people do not know! There is a 
reason for this that I need not stop to enlarge upon 
here, but which you can easily think out, if you will 
take the trouble to do so. I regret to say that many 
people who are counted as especially "good" think it 
is not "nice" either to think about or to know of such 
a fact ! But they are altogether wrong in such 
mental attitude. I suppose their teaching is to blame 
for this. 



170 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

The fertilization of eggs while they are still within 
the body of the female is accomplished by a union of 
the egg-producing organs of the female with the 
seminal-producing organs of the male, the fluid thus 
being brought into contact with the eggs it is to give 
complete life to. These organs are called "sex 
organs," and their union is known as "copulation." 
And this is the story of egg-fertilization as it takes 
place in an order of life which is higher than tha£ 
of fishes. 

And here, again, because of all sorts of happenings 
that may befall unhatched eggs, and of the difficulty 
that the seminal fluid may have in reaching the 
infertile eggs, located as they are within the body of 
the female, there is the same "prodigality of nature," 
both in the number of eggs produced and of that 
which fertilizes them, as we have noted in the lower 
life-forms. There is not such a tremendous excess of 

r 

eggs produced among birds and fowls as there is 
among fishes, but the number of eggs "layed" is far 
in excess of those that are ever hatched, as everybody 
knows. And as to the number of spermatazoa which 
the male birds and fowls produce, this is still, as in 
the similar cases already noted, practically beyond 
computation ! 

Coming up a step higher in the realm of animal 
life-forms, we find yet another variation in the man- 
ner of reproduction, as follows : Here, not only are 
the eggs produced within the body of the female and 



The Pros and Cons of the Issues Involved 171 

fertilized there ; but, after they are so fertilized, they 
are still retained within the female body, arid there 
they grow and develop, for a shorter or a longer 
period of time, till in due time, infantile, but perfectly 
full-formed bodies are produced, after the kind of 
the animal that gave them being. When the young 
animal is fully formed within the body of the female, 
it is expelled from her body by what we call "birth." 
The time that it takes for the young of the different 
animals to become fully formed in the bodies of those 
which produce them, varies from a few days to 
several months, and is known as the "gestation 
period" ; and the act of birth is scientifically called 
"parturition." 

And here again there is the same surplus of eggs 
and of seminal jfluid that obtains in all the cases we 
have so far noted. There is this difference, though, 
namely, that the more advanced animal-forms 
become, the fewer in number are the infertile eggs 
produced by the females for possible fertilization. 
On the other hand, there is no diminution of the 
proportionate number of fertilizing germs produced 
by male beings, no matter how high in the scale of 
life-forms we may go. The number of such germs, or 
spermatazoa, produced by each and every male 
being, from the lowest to the highest, during a life- 
time, is for multitude, equal to that of the sands of 
the sea or the stars in the sky ! But the number of 
such germs that actually succeed in affecting the 



172 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

fertilization of the eggs they are made to match, is 
comparatively infinitesimal ! The great mass of these 
germs perish in their primitive form, and go for 
nothing, so far as their initial purpose is concerned ! 
This tremendous "waste of life-giving material," as 
some people say it, is greatly deplored by many who, 
it would sometimes seem, think that they could have 
made a much better world than the one we live in, one 
which could have been run much more "economically," 
than ours now is ! I wonder ! 

I have said all that I have thus far written upon 
this particular point, in order to lead my readers up 
to a full and wholesome realization of the essential 
facts that obtain in the reproduction of human 
beings in this world. It seems to me we ought all to 
be pretty well posted on the subject of reproduction 
in general, by this time, and, if we are, we are ready 
to take up intelligently, and in a right mental atti- 
tude, the subject of reproduction in the human 
species. Let us proceed to do just that. 

In the first place, when we come to study this part 
of life-expression as it manifests itself in human 
beings, we find the same universal principle which is 
embodied in the truthful words of the old Latin 
phrase, omne vivum ex ovo, every living thing comes 
from an Qgg^ to be in full force here as elsewhere ; and 
that, in the working out of that principle, substan- 
tially, and for the most part, the same means and 
methods obtain that apply in the orders of being 



The Pros and Cons of the Issues Involved 173 

that are below mankind. That is, each human being 
in all the world has his or her physical beginning in 
an egg which is produced in an infertile condition by 
the female of the species ; and this egg has to be 
fertilized by a germ which is produced by the male of 
the species, just as in the lower order of life-forms; 
that is, there must be a conjoining of the egg and 
the germ, in this case as in all others, before fertiliza- 
tion can take place. 

Infertile human eggs originate from within the 
body of each human female, after they arrive at a 
suitable age, and for several years thereafter, from 
organs which are called ovaries. These are two in 
number, and are located where they are well pro- 
tected, deeply embodied in the small of the back of 
the female body. A great number of these eggs, 
almost infinitely small, are present in the ovaries of 
each and all female human beings, from their earliest 
infancy, the number in each case being fixed definitely 
at the time of birth. In their primary state, or con- 
dition, and during the early years of the body that 
contains them, they are not capable of being fertil- 
ized ; but, after the female body is sufficiently devel- 
oped, they "ripen," or come to maturity, one by 
one, every twenty-eight days ; and, one at a time, at 
the expiration of each such interval, they pass out 
of the ovaries and down into a part of the body 
where there is located an organ which corresponds 
to the egg-pocket in an apple-blossom ; and hei'e, like 



174* Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

an apple-egg In a similar state, the human ^gg waits 
for the life-giving germ which alone can make it 
fertile. As already said, the male human being alone 
produces such germ from within his body, and it 
must be transmitted from the body of the male to 
that of the female before fertilization of the ^gg can 
take place. This transmission of the life-giving germ, 
or spermatazoa, from the body of the male to that of 
the female is effected in precisely the same manner 
as already noted in cases where the sex-organs of 
different life-forms are located in different individual 
bodies, and hence need not be repeated here. And, 
being thus brought together and into contact, the 
^gg of the female unites with the germ of the male, 
and fertilization is thus accomplished. Such fertili- 
zation is known as "conception' and the female body 
in which conception has taken place is then said to 
be "pregnant." 

And here, again, in this form of egg-fertilization, 
"the prodigality of nature" appears, just as in the 
other similar instances we have noted, though with 
this variation: In many of the orders of life below 
mankind, there are numbers of eggs, often multi- 
tudes, to be fertilized upon the meeting of these two 
life-elements, as we have already seen; but in the 
human species, there is only one ^gg presented for 
fertilization at any one time. However, the number 
of male fertilizing germs that are presented to fertil- 
ize such single egg, any one of which can fully 



The Pros and Cons of the Issues Involved 175 

accomplish such fertilization, and onli/ one of which 
can be utilized for such purpose, is, as in similar 
cases, almost countless. At such meeting of an 
infertile human egg and the vitalizing germ which is 
to fertilize it, there are present between two and 
three millions of spermatazoa, and only one of these 
can, under any circumstances, be effective in pro- 
ducing the result for which they all exist ! All the 
rest of this exceeding great multitude of germs which 
no man can number, must perish and count for. 
nothing, so far as their vitalizing efficiency is con- 
cerned, as in all the other similar instances which we 
have noted. Note this fact quite well, as I shall refer 
to it later. 

It hardly needs to be said, but to make the record 
complete, I add, that, after fertilization, the human 
egg remains within the body of the female, and there 
grows and develops during the "gestation period," 
as is the case with other animals, this period in the 
human species being nine months, when birth, or 
"parturition," takes place, and a new being enters 
into human life ! 

And this is the story of reproduction, as it applies 
to mankind! For the most part, it is but a repeti- 
tion of similar phenomena in all life-forms ; but there 
are ways in which it is peculiar to itself, as I shall 
at once proceed to point out. 

And the first, and by far the most essential dif- 
ference between reproduction in the human species 



176 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

and that in all other life-forms is that here, for the 
first time in all the series, the possible power of choice 
on the part of the individuals involved enters in and 
becomes a significant factor in the problem of the 
perpetuation of life's embodiments ! And right here 
in this story, we begin to forcefully use the logical 
tools of explanation which I have been so long in 
fashioning, and which you have been so patient in 
noting. Right here begins the definite application 
of the method of Chance or of Choice as a factor in 
the reproduction of human beings, and we are now in 
a position to consider the issue intelligently and on 
the basis of righteousness rather than that of 
custom, or conventionality, or morality, or anything 
else whatsoever. And let us thank God that we can 
do just this I 

It is easy for us now to see that, in all orders of 
life below mankind, all the phenomena of reproduc- 
tion are matters of must, and not of may or can; of 
instinct merely, and hence that they all lie entirely 
outside the realm of the power of choice! (It might 
be well for the reader to pause for a moment just 
here, and think intently of the significance of what 
is involved in the statements made in the last few 
paragraphs, and then we will move on !) 

I say that we can now see, at once, how impossible 
it is for choice to have any place whatever in the 
reproduction of life-forms in the orders of life below 
mankind. The infertile apple-egg has no choice as 



The Pros and Cons of the Issues Involved 177 

to its origin or as to the position it occupies in the 
apple-blossom ; nor can it choose at all as to how and 
when it may receive the pollen-grain which is to 
fertilize it ! The first of these items is, for it, a mat- 
ter of must, and the second almost entirely a matter 
of chance. The apple-egg is where it is because it 
cannot help being there, and it may or may not get 
the fertilizing germ that it must have to perfect its 
being ; and, in neither case can its own will, even if it 
had a will of its own, affect the situation in any way 
whatsoever ! These are all facts which cannot be 
gainsaid in any way, and they are facts of the utmost 
significance in the main case we are now considering ! 
Drive another stake right here! 

And what is true of reproduction as it appears in 
the apple-trees is equally true of strawberries, and 
com and clover and angle worms and fishes and birds 
and fowls and four-footed beasts, in a word, of all 
forms of life below mankind. In not one of these 
instances is the power of choice a possible factor in 
the phenomena involved! Below that line every ele- 
ment in the entire process is either irrevocably fixed 
by some power other than the individual involved, or 
else it is a matter of chance, pure and simple ! 

But when we come up as far in the scale of life- 
expression as human beings, there we find at least 
the possibility of choice becoming a factor in the 
phenomenon of reproduction! True, many of the 
irrevocably fixed conditions that obtain in the lower 



178 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

orders of life still persist in this realm of being. The 
production of primitive egg-cells and of fertilizing 
germs is still entirely beyond the control of the indi- 
viduals in which these elements appear, just as truly 
as is the case in lower forms of life ; but the item of 
the fertilization or the non-fertilization of embryo 
eggs in human beings is at least within the bounds of 
possible human control ! Here the possible power of 
choice, at least, exists ! The question at stake is, is 
it right that such possibility should be deliberately 
taken advantage of and utilized by the human beings 
in which it certainly has a being ; or should mankind, 
like all other life-forms, continue to be subject to fate 
and chance in the exercise of this most important of 
all life's functions? Here is the crux of the whole 
issue to be considered in the case we are now trying ! 
And the item to settle, and to settle once for all, is, 
what is right in this matter? And the answer to this 
question is not to be determined by what anybody 
says about it, no matter who such anybody may be ; 
it is not to be settled by any "authority," merely as 
such, no matter what the same may be, or how and 
where it may be located ; its rightness or wrongness 
is not to be disclosed in terms of morality, custom, or 
conventionality, or of man-made laws, as such; but 
the whole issue must be determined by its righteous- 
ness or unrighteousness ; and this can only be found 
out by the effects which the exercise of such power of 
choice produces upon the individuals who exercise it, 



The Pros and Cons of the Issues Involved 179 

or upon any other person or persons upon whom its 
exercise may have an influence, or "land." Such 
method of settling the rightness or wrongness of 
exercising the power of choice in this case is in har- 
mony with the basic laws of determining the correct- 
ness of human acts, which we have studied a few 
pages back ; and it is the only way of finally testing 
out the issue to an ultimate conclusion. Let us 
proceed to do just that. 

It goes without saying that this method of settling 
this issue involves a great number of items, both 
general and particular; so many, in fact, that they 
cannot all be considered, as they deserve to be, in a 
book the size of the one I am now writing. However, 
the chief of all these can be noted and some con- 
clusions can be established therefrom which will be 
of such general application that they will practically 
serve in rightly determining all the issues in point. 

And right here I want to call the attention of my 
readers as to just what the issue is that I am now 
considering. I am not talking about the taking of 
human life, even at its earliest stages! I am not 
talking about "abortion," that is, the destruction of 
a fertilized human egg at any time after the gesta- 
tion period has begun. Such an act as that is 
another issue altogether, from the one we are talking 
about, and with which this present discussion has 
nothing whatever to do, as I may enlarge upon later. 
However, it should be said, just here, that the fact is 



180 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

that the laws and regulations which are now on the 
statute books of the United States, and of many of 
the several States in the Union, make no distinction 
whatever between these two separate issues, but count 
them as one and the same, and prescribe equal punish- 
ments for any violations of such statutes, all and 
several. The pity of it ! Yes, the folly of it, not to 
say the blunder, the abomination and the wickedness 
of it ! But more of this later. 

And here, in considering the possibility of exer- 
cising the human will, or choice rather than chance, 
in determining whether or not human egg-cells shall 
be fertilized, in general or in any particular case, we 
fall back on the trio of desire, imagination and 
ingenuity, which we have already carefully studied. 
Taking these up, one by one, as they apply in the 
present situation, it is certain that the desire to effect 
such control exists among all human beings to whom 
is legally given the right of propagating the human 
species, namely, all married people! That is, all 
married people would prefer, if they could have their 
wish about it, if their desire could be fulfilled, to have 
the matter of egg-cell fertilization, in their particu- 
lar case at least, entirely under their own control. 
That such desire is universal among all intelligent 
and thoughtful married people is beyond denial ! 

And, thus desiring, the imagination of these people 
proceeds to search for the means of realization of 



The Pros and Cons of the Issues Involved 181 

such desire; after which their ingenuity proceeds to 
work out what their imagination suggests. This is 
the universal experience of all married people, to say 
the least. But if any one should tell how such 
experience has worked out, what ways and means for 
realizing such desires as imagination has suggested to 
married people, and what their ingenuity has pro- 
duced — if any one should ever make a report of this, 
as the laws of the United States now are, the man or 
the woman who would do this would land in the peni- 
tentiary forthwith ! However, this can be said with- 
out danger of incurring such penalty ; namely, that 
even the most earnest advocates of "not meddling 
with nature's methods," all unanimously agree in the 
rightfulness of one way of making human egg-cells 
and spermatazoa ineffective, that is, of virtually 
preventing ^'conception," namely, by entire absti- 
nence from the act which would bring these two vital 
elements into contact with each other! This seems 
to be a sort of universally approved and generally 
accepted unwritten law; or, perhaps better, a uni- 
versally approved and generally accepted and 
adopted exception to a written law, (if such written 
law actually includes this method which really 
accomplishes a result which the statute itself 
forbids !) 

In any event, even the most ardent endorsers and 
supporters of the law as it now stands, still insist 



182 Children by Chance or by Choice 

that it is right for married people to practice such 
method of living, and they urge conformity to it with 
the utmost zeal. 

Now let us see just what such method does and 
just how it does it: 

In the first place, it surely prevents "conception" ! 
No one can deny that! Still further, there is no 
denying the fact that this method does bring the 
element of the human will into the case. It certainly 
substitutes choice in the place of chance as a con- 
trolling factor in the premises ! What it practically 
does is to deliberately keep from realization possi- 
bilities which might eventuate otherwise but for the 
inhibition thus enforced! It renders both the egg- 
cells produced by the human female, and the life- 
giving germs produced by the male human being, 
entirely incapable of attaining the results for which 
both exist ! It leaves to "nature" the work of making 
a complete, rather than a partial destruction of all 
of these germs, every one of them, egg-cells and their 
proper fertilizers, both and all ! To be sure, "nature" 
destroys the overwhelming majority of both of these, 
anyhow, as we have already seen ; and in preventing 
the meeting of the two elements by totally abstain- 
ing from the sexual act which would bring them 
together, and so destroying them all by such means, 
the ingenuity of married people by this exceptionally 
approved method, only carries one step further a 
process which "nature" continually practices in 



The Pros and Cons of the Issues Involved 183 

limitless measure ! The question is, would married 
people, if the}^ never engaged in the sexual act which 
alone can bring about the fertilization of the human 
egg-cell, and in this way prevented conception — 
would such people be doing right or wrong by such 
manner of living? The way to find out the right or 
wrong in this case is to learn how such manner of 
living results in its effects upon the parties con- 
cerned, the husbands and wives involved. 

In the first place, let it be said that such manner 
of living, by husbands and wives, that is, an entire 
abstinence of sexual commerce, is so rare as to be 
almost a negligible quantity. In all my investiga- 
tions, I have found only one such case; but I have 
found one where such manner of living was actually 
maintained for a number of years. (For the better 
assurance of the reader, I add that I have every 
reason to believe that this couple did actually live as 
I have stated they did. In any event, please count it 
true that they did so, for the sake of the argument 
which is to follow, if for no other reason. But that 
such cases are rare is well known by everybody. 
Hence this parenthetical note.) The question is, 
did these parties, if they lived as they say they 
lived, do wrong by living in this way; and, if they 
did do wrong, in just what particular did that wrong 
doing consist? To find these things out, the case will 
have to be studied quite carefully in detail, as 
follows : 



184 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

This husband and wife belonged to what we call 
"middle class people." They lived in a city where 
both found employment, he as a clerk in a store, and 
she as a stenographer in an office. They "fell in love 
with each other," as the phrase goes, and wanted to 
marry, and did so. But! They were in quite moderate 
circumstances, both of them, and they felt that it 
would not be best, or even right, for them to have a 
child, or children, till they were able to take proper 
care of it, or them ! And they knew that by entirely 
refraining from the sexual act they could totally 
eliminate the possibility of becoming parents ! Know- 
ing this, they acted accordingly. That is, by the 
deliberate action of their wills, by the exercise of the 
power of choice, and not at all by chance, they kept 
from reproducing after their kind. Did they do 
wrong? 

Well, according to the rules for determining the 
Tightness or the wrongness of human actions that we 
have already noted, let us bring this case into the 
court of common sense, as it were, and try it out. 

In the first place : How did such manner of living 
affect the parties themselves, physically, mentally 
and spiritually.'^ As to the first, so far as I could 
learn, both the husband and the wife were at least 
averagely well physically, during the three or more 
years that I knew them, and during which time they 
practiced absolute continence. How long this con- 
dition afterward continued, I cannot say, as, after 



The Pros and Cons of the Issues Involved 185 

that time, they moved to the far West, and I lost 
sight of them. Mentally, they were certainly able to 
hold their respective positions, as long as I knew 
them ; and spiritually, they stood fairly well, at least 
up to the average among people in their walks of 
life. So much for the result of this manner of living 
as it ''landed" upon these two people individually. 

Whether such a way of living was abnormal or 
not, is beside the issue, so far as this discussion is 
concerned. It was certainly unusual, as already 
said ; but that item in the count we need not consider. 
That it could be generally practiced by husbands 
and wives as they go, with as good results as obtained 
in this case, my own observations and studies lead me 
greatly to doubt. I have known many cases where a 
similar manner of living was attempted, to the extent 
of confining the sexual act to that of a reproductive 
purpose only, and almost without exception such 
attempts have resulted harmfully to the physical, 
mental and spiritual condition of the husbands and 
wives concerned. I have known some such cases, 
where nervous breakdown and mental upsetting have 
come from such repression; and I have more than 
once seen such untoward condition remedied, and the 
parties restored to health and soundness in body, 
mind and spirit, by the abandonment of such inhibi- 
tion, and the establishment of a mode of life that was 
in harmony with their natural desires, rather than 
in conformity to what somebody, or some books have 



186 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

said. This is a sort of side remark, apart from the 
main issue ; but it is so important that I feel that I 
will be pardoned by the reader for making it as I 
have. I may refer to this point at greater length in 
a later chapter. 

If these parties did no harm to themselves by not 
permitting the vital elements of reproduction to come 
into contact with each other, by deliberately refrain- 
ing from the sexual act which would have united 
them, the question still remains, according to the rule 
for determining right and wrong under which this 
case is being tried, did they wrong any one else by 
doing as they did? 

And here comes in the claim that they owed a duty 
to society, and to the state and to the church if they 
failed to contribute their quota of children for the 
uses and needs of these institutions in days to come. 
And to this claim from these sources is sometimes 
added an injunction or command which is held to 
have come from Jehovah himself, as embodied in the 
words of the Bible, "increase and multiply and 
replenish the earth.^' For all these reasons, husbands 
and wives have been taught, and still are taught, 
that they are doing wrong if they do not have chil- 
dren if it is possible for them to do so ; and this view 
of the situation has been held in such esteem by 
certain who have believed that they are possessed of 
the authority to dictate in the premises, that hus- 
bands and wives have been commanded to bear 



The Pros and Cons of the Issues Involved 187 

children under penalty if they refused to heed the 
order given to them ! That is, according to this 
theory, it is held to be wrong, if not absolutely 
wicked for married people who have in themselves the 
possibilities of reproducing after their kind, and who 
possess the legal right to exercise the same, to refrain 
from utilizing such possibilities by a deliberate act 
of the will, that is, by choice ! 

In the first place, it must be acknowledged that the 
laws of the United States as they now stand, appar- 
ently make it a criminal offense if such possibilities 
are even limited or curbed in any way ! This condi- 
tion of affairs virtually amounts to demanding by 
law that the powers of reproduction which are pos- 
sessed by all those who are legally entitled to function 
in this way, shall be utilized to the limit of their 
possibilities ! The principle at the basis of such an 
order of things can be none other than this : They 
can, and hence they must! It is for these reasons 
that it is held that this young couple whom we mow 
have "on the carpet" did a wrong to others by not 
having children. Let us look a bit further into this 
claim, as follows : 

The essential point in this claim is that society, 
and the state and the church need men and women 
for supporters in the coming generation, and that 
all those who can contribute to the furnishing of such 
supporters are "slackers" if they fail to "make 
good"! Suppose we concede the point for the mo- 



188 Children hy Chance or by Choice 

ment, namely, that those who can, should, and con^ 
tinue the argument on that basis ! 

As just said, the whole crux of the situation lies 
in the claim that it is the duty of those who can have 
children, to fulfil their possibilities. And there are 
those who assert that such possibilities should be 
carried to the ultimate limit of attainment, regard- 
less of every item but that of the number of children 
that can be produced. Grant this for a moment, and 
see what comes from it. On this basis, the question 
at once arises in the minds of all who are willing to 
think this situation through to a logical conclusion: 
Just where does this ^^can" this duty in the line of 
possibilities begin.'' How far back does such 
responsibility go ? 

As things now are, only those who are married can 
legally have children. But, as a matter of fact, 
practically all advlt human beings can reproduce 
after their kind ! They all possess the power to do 
so ! They could have children if they would place 
themselves where they might legally do so! All 
female human beings produce infertile egg-cells every 
twenty-eight days, and all male human beings pro- 
duce untold millions of spermatazoa which could 
fertilize the same, if they had the opportunity to do 
so. The question is, do not all these people owe a 
duty to society, and the State, and the church to live 
up to their possibilities in this item of reproduction? 

This is not saying that all these people should 



Tli€ Pros and Cons of the Issues Involved 189 

bear children out of wedlock, but it is raising the 
issue as to whether they have any right to 
deliberately refuse to enter into a condition of life 
where the having of children would be possible. Has 
any woman the right to deliberately permit all the 
unfertilized egg-cells she produces to go to waste? 
Has any man the right to suffer all the fertilizing 
germs he produces to perish? Have they any right 
to exercise the power of choice in the premises, and 
to wilfully refrain from placing themselves in a 
position where they could respond to the call or 
demand of society, and the State, and the church for 
supporters in the days to come? Have unmarried 
people, a right to remain unmarried, under these 
conditions ? Or, to carry the issue to a finality, have 
any adult human beings who possess the power of 
reproduction, any right to deliberately determine 
that they will never, under any circumstances, be- 
come fathers or mothers? 

It seems to me that the point we are now con- 
sidering, when thus logically carried to an ultimate 
issue, reveals, with the utmost clearness, certain 
items that are clouded, to say the least, in the minds 
of many good people. Let us see just what an 
affirmative answer to this question would involve. 

Of course, no one could claim for a moment that 
all single people should be compelled by law to marry, 
or that it is wrong for any who choose to do so, to 
remain in life-long celibacy. To enforce such com- 



190 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

pulsion for the first, or to refuse to permit such 
action on the part of the latter, would be wholly at 
variance to the principle of individual liberty, and 
amount to nothing less than unbearable tyranny! 
And yet, all these people by a deliberate act of the 
will, by exercising the power of choice, do keep apart 
the human life-germs where meeting might at least 
result in the chance of reproduction of the human 
species ! And if it is right for these people to thus 
exercise the power of choice in the matter of bring- 
ing children into this world, rather than to take 
chances in the premises, by this method of accom- 
plishing such a result, who should say, or by what 
right shall the claim be made that other human beings 
may not rightfully do, at least occasionally, what 
they do perpetually? 

Suppose you try to think that question through, 
and to answer it in the light of reason and common 
sense, rather than according to fixed ideas, or an 
established conventionality, and see what comes from 
so doing! If you will do this, and are willing to 
acknowledge the conclusion you come to ; and if your 
mind and mine are in any way related to each other, 
so far as the ability to reason rightly is concerned, 
I am sure we shall both be compelled to acknowledge 
that, so far as the civilization we live in is concerned, 
it is now really practically universally held to be 
right to render all the reproductive germ-cells which 
human beings may produce, ineffective by keeping 



The Pros and Cons of the Issues Involved 191 

them apart, by means of entirely refraining from the 
sexual act which would bring them together ! But if 
we reach this conclusion, see what follows: Such a 
conclusion is so sweeping, so far-reaching, and, more 
than all, so at variance with what we have all 
thoughtlessly held in mind up to the present time, 
that it needs to be reviewed once more to make sure 
that it is really correct. Let us make such review : 

It is held by everybody that it is not only right, 
but a duty and a virtue of the highest sort, for all 
unmarried persons to render ineffective all the germ- 
cells they produce ! No one ever thinks of charging 
such people with "murder" or criminality of any 
sort if they deliberately keep such germs apart. No 
one says that they owe a duty to society, or the 
State, or the church, or anybody else, to place them- 
selves in a condition where they could legally bring 
such germs together. Everybody is agreed about 
this, up to this point. And this can mean nothing 
else than that the rendering of human life-germs 
inefficient by keeping them apart, is not wrong, as 
such, and in and of itself ! And this, in turn, means, 
must mean, that the keeping of human life-germs 
apart is not of itself wrong, or wicked, or a sin! 
Well then, if it is not a wrong, in and of itself, to 
keep such germs apart, by what law of equal rights 
for all can it be held to be a sin for some people and 
not a sin for other people to keep such germs from 
meeting? Can there be exceptions to a general rule, 



19S Children by Chance or by Choice 

which will make it a crime for some people to do 
what other people may do with impunity? And, 
under these conditions, can any one, or any number 
of ones, by law, or by any other rightful means, make 
that wrong for some which is right for others, all of 
such parties being of the same original make-up, and 
endowed with the same original powers and abilities 
in the premises? If there is any such quality as 
justice or right, anywhere in the world, such could 
never be evoked to bring about and maintain so 
unjust and unfair a condition of things as such 
arbitrary ruling would constitute ! What is fair and 
right for one human being in this regard, must be 
fair and right for all other human beings, the possi- 
bilities being constantly equal and the same in all 
these cases, as they surely are in this particular. 
There can be no escape from this conclusion, as all 
sane people must admit. 

So then, by this study, we are forced to the con- 
clusion that the keeping of human life-germs apart is 
not a wrong, in and of itself, and that this fact is 
generally acknowledged as correct, provided the 
method of making such germs inefficient is confined 
to that of wholly refraining from the act which 
would give some of them a chance to become effective, 
that is, by living a life of absolute continence. Let 
so much be counted as settled. 

And being settled, and settled in this way, we can 
discuss the case of the two young people whose 



The Pros and Cons of the Issioes Involved 198 

deliberate act of perpetually refraining from the 
sexual act kept the germ-cells they produced apart, 
and so &^/ choice kept them from bearing children. 
In doing as they did, they did no more than millions 
of unmarried people do ; and if such act was not 
wrong in the one case, by no law of right can it be 
counted wrong in another case^ — in their case ! 

"But," some one says, "suppose all married people 
should do as these young people did, what would 
become of Society and the State and the church 
under these circumstances?" The question is not 
pertinent, so far as it applies to these people being 
married is concerned ! If it is urged at all, it must be 
asked in this way: Suppose all people should live 
lives of absolute continence, what would happen then? 
That is, if the question is asked at all, it must be 
made to apply to every human being who is possessed 
of the possibilities of supplying the needs of Society, 
the State and the Church with supporters ; and so 
long as individual liberty means anything at all, no 
such wholesale extension of responsibility could be 
considered for a moment. These young friends, whose 
case we have tried, were under no more obligation to 
supply these needs after they were married than they 
were before; and, in neither case or condition were 
they any more responsible for supplying these needs 
than were, or are, all the millions of their brother and 
sister human beings, married or single, in all the 
world, who possess the means for bringing about 



194 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

such results ! Is it not written "God is no respecter 
of persons?" and what is right for one who has 
possibilities for producing results of any given kind, 
must be equally right for all who are like-wise 
equipped! "The elementary laws never apologize," 
but, impartially, they apply alike to all! "Who 
hath ears to hear, let him hear!" 

And now see what follows from this chain of 
reasoning, if the principle it has led us to is correct, 
as it undeniably is ! The point is established that the 
keeping of human germ-cells apart by the exercise of 
the power of choice is not wrong, in and of itself, and 
it is further universally held that it is right and 
proper for any human beings to exercise such power 
of choice in this matter, by entirely refraining from 
the sex act which might bring the germs together, by 
living a life of absolute continence. That is, the 
conclusion is reached that it is no crime to keep these 
germs apart, provided the rendering of them ineffi- 
cient is brought about in a certain way. But such 
conclusion inevitably suggests the question whether 
or not this one way, or any one way of keeping these 
germs from efficiency has a monopoly in the premises? 
If it is not wrong to keep human germ-cells from 
realizing their possibilities by one method, is it wrong 
to bring about the same result by some other method? 
That is, is there anything sacred or beyond competi- 
tion, in the method which is now so universally 



The Pros and Cons of the Issues Involved 195 

approved, or may other methods be rightfully utilized 
for producing the same results? 

With the point established, that the deliberate 
keeping of germ-cells from fully functioning is no 
crime, in and of itself, would it not seem that the 
manner of bringing about such results becomes a 
matter of indifference, so far as the result itself is 
concerned? To be sure, any such method that might 
be used for such purpose must be of such nature 
that it will work no harm, physically, mentally or 
spiritually, to those who adopt it ; but its rightness 
or wrongness must be judged from such standpoint 
alone, and none other. The rightness or wrongness 
of the results produced being established, the right- 
ness or wrongness of the method which produced the 
results must be determined on its own merits. 

And this brings us to the consideration of the main 
issue of all, namely: Is it right that the sexual act 
which nature utilizes as the only means of bringing 
human germ-cells together should be used for any 
other purpose than that of affecting such union of 
these vital forces ? Or, to put it the other way about : 
Is it wrong, or sinful for human beings to give their 
sex nature any other mode of expression than that of 
offering an opportunity for germ-cells to unite? 
And this leads us back to the original question as to 
whether sex in the human species is designed by the 
Maker of sex to serve any other purpose than that 



196 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

of reproduction? And the answer to this involves 
the fact of the "plus of humanity" concerning which 
much has been said in previous chapters. This is an 
issue, in and of itself, which I can only mention here, 
and which I shall fully discuss later on. Till then, 
let it rest at the point to which I have so far 
brought it. 

Meantime, while we wait, there is one more item to 
be considered in the matter of rendering human 
germ-cells inefficient through the exercise of the 
power of choice on the part of men and women, and 
that is, the right, or rights, of the cells themselves, or 
of certain individuals of them in particular. It is 
held, in some quarters, that at least some of these 
germ-cells have a right to come to the full expression 
of their possibihties, and that to keep them from so 
doing is wrong and a sin. This is a point that is 
worthy of looking into, especially because of the quite 
extended field in which it is held to be true. 

Those who hold this view declare that germ-cells 
possess life,, and that it is a sin to destroy such life 
by an act of deliberate human choice. Let us look 
into such a proposition in the light of common 
sense, and of things as they are, as well. 

There is no doubt about human germ-cells pos- 
sessing life, and the multiplicity of such life is al- 
most beyond computation. As already noted, for 
more than thirty years of her life, every normal 
female being produces at least thirteen unfertilized 



The Pros and Cons of the Issues Involved J 97 

egg-cells every year ; and the number of spermatazoa 
that a normal healthy man produces in a life-time 
is practically past finding out. In the ordinary 
course of nature, the great bulk of these perish, as 
I have more than once shown, and never reach an 
attainment which they all possess the possibility of 
fulfilling! The average human female who reaches 
the age of fifty years produces more than four hun- 
dred egg-cells during her lifetime, and even with 
those who have "large families" only a comparatively 
few of these ever attain to the full the inherent pos- 
sibilities which they all possess ; while, with the aver- 
age mother who bears three or four children only, 
not one per cent of such germ-cells are utilized for 
reproduction. And amongst men, all and several, 
the product of life-germs which are made ready for 
each possible sex-meeting exceed two-and-a-half mil- 
lions, every germ of which possesses life in itself. 
And the number of sex-meetings that a normal man 
is capable of affecting and still maintain good 
health, is, in many cases, from the age of twenty 
to sixty, not less than the number of days he lives 
during that period of his life. And yet, though all 
these numberless germ-cells, of both sorts, thus pos- 
sess life, are truly alive, in and of themselves, they 
nearly all die, or at least do not fulfill the purpose 
of reproduction for which they primarily exist. 

"But," say the devotees of the theory we are now 
considering, "it is nature which thus disposes of this 



198 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

immense surplus, and man cannot be held responsible 
for what nature does. The only thing for human- 
ity to do, under these conditions, is to let nature 
do her work, and not to interfere with her, in any 
way. And deliberately to do, even occasionally, 
what she does continually, is to meddle with her 
working, and that is something that man should 
never do, where life is concerned !" This is what the 
advocates of this theory say^ though it hardly seems 
possible that sane and thoughtful human beings 
could even conceive such an idea ! 

For, look you, if this saying be correct, what shall 
we say of those who refuse to marry, or who vow 
that they will never do so? These, by a deliberate 
act of their own will, render all their germ-cells in- 
efficient ! They condemn every one of these elements 
which possess life to absolute extermination ! They 
''meddle with nature" to the nth degree, and none of 
the advocates of this theory we are now talking 
about molest them or make them afraid in the least ! 
And yet — oh, brethren and sisters, it won't do ! The 
theory which insists on married people utilizing to 
the limit of possibilities, all the germ-cells they pro- 
duce, is based on nothing but an alleged "authority" 
which has no foundation whatever to rest upon, but 
which is like unto a man who would endeavor to stand 
in mid-air on the wooden legs of a begged premise, 
and thus equipped, assume to defy the laws of grav- 
ity and overturn a world! 



The Pros and Cons of the Issues Involved 199 

It was an enthusiastic advocate of this theory who 
has insisted that, amongst married people, every 
possible opportunity should be offered germ-cells 
to unite, and that every married couple should have 
as many children as they could possibly produce, 
utterly regardless of anything but the number of 
progeny they bring forth. Another of these has 
said that it is better to be bom deaf, dumb and 
blind, or so diseased that one could live for only a 
moment, than not to be born at all. Others of this 
belief picture myriads of souls, waiting with out- 
stretched hands, begging to be born into this world, 
and that every possible opportunity should be of- 
fered these anxious beings to realize their desires ; 
and hence, they argue, it is wicked for married peo- 
ple to in any way hinder what they so much long 
for. The answer to such a demand is the one al- 
ready given, namely, why confine this insistence to 
married people, or why blame these alone if their 
prayers are not answered? 

The simple truth is that neither those who hold 
this theory, nor any one else, really knows, to a cer- 
tainty, anything about what the condition of indi- 
vidual life is preceding birth, or how or when or 
where such identities originate. The wisest remark 
on this score that I have ever known of, was made 
by a sage of ripe years and experience, who wrote 
me a letter in which he said: "From the womb of 
Infinity, in the realm of mystery, we are born; but 



200 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

where, or when, or how we come into being, mortals 
may never know." And that sentence, I think, tells 
all that any, even the wisest, know about the mar- 
velous fact of the presence of individual human 
beings in this world. And, on this basis, it would 
seem good sense, at least, not to bring individual 
beings into this world, unless they can have at least 
a reasonable opportunity to become what it would 
seem the Maker of human beings designed that they 
might attain to. Doesn't that seem like a whole- 
some proposition? 

The fact is that the holders of these theories base 
their philosophies on an other-worldliness, rather 
than on a this-worldliness, when reason and common 
sense would seem to indicate that the conditions that 
individuals have to meet in this world should be 
the first to consider, when the item of giving such 
an individual a being and a place in time and space 
hangs in the balance awaiting a decision. And that 
such an issue should be carefully considered and 
wisely and thoughtfully acted upon must appeal to 
all sane people as just and right, ever and always. 

Under these conditions, to insist that human 
germ-cells have a right to be brought together when- 
ever opportunity for their union is possible, re- 
gardless of the conditions into which the being might 
be born, which this uniting might result in, is not 
only folly, but, in many instances, a positive crime ! 
Whatever rights to coalesce such germ-cells may 



The Pros and Cons of the Issues Involved 201 

possess, their rights must be set over against the 
rights of the individuals that may be born if this 
union is effected; and to permit them to have their 
way, when such action would result in the misery 
and woe of what they produce, cannot be right or 
reasonable or sane ! Why it is urged in some quar- 
ters I shall point out in due time. 

To sum up a bit, just here, it seems to me that we 
have now established the fact that it is not wrong 
for human beings, married or unmarried, by a de- 
liberate act of the will, that is by choice, to render 
human germ-cells inefficient, which is only another 
way of saying that it is not wrong for them to have 
children by choice rather than by chance. The 
point yet left to consider is as to whether it is right 
to use one way, and one way only, in bringing about 
this result. 

Without any further beating about the bush, let 
us proceed at once to state the issue, as follows : As 
the case now stands, as a matter of fact, practically 
all married people do engage in the act which may 
result in bringing together the germ-cells they pro- 
duce. And they do this without the definite pur- 
pose or desire of reproduction. That is, in this 
way, in the vast majority of cases, they "chance" 
the issue as to whether the germs unite or not! 
They never know, to a certainty, whether fertiliza- 
tion will or will not take place from this sexual 
meeting, and they blindly take chances, one way 



202 Children by Chance or by Choice 

or the other. It is because of this undeniable fact 
that it remains true to this day, that at least ninety 
per cent of the children that are bom into this world 
come into being not by choice, but by chance ! The 
question is, in view of all that has gone before in 
this book, are these results the best that the desire 
and the imagination and the ingenuity of mankind 
can produce; and is it wrong that better results 
should be sought for and established, if ever they 
can be found? That is, if some way or ways could 
be found by means of which husbands and wives 
could determine by choice how many, and when and 
how they should have children, would the finding of 
such way, and the practice of the same be wrong? 
And this brings us once more to the issue of the 
rightness or the wrongness of sex-expression for pur- 
poses other than that of reproduction, and so makes 
a fit ending for the chapter on the pros and cons of 
the issue at stake, as we have so far considered it. 



CHAPTER XI 

SOME REVIEWS AND DEMONSTRATIONS OF THE PLUS OF 

HUMANITY, AS IT APPLIES TO SEX IN THE 

HUMAN SPECIES 

Before entering directly upon the definite study 
to be made in this particular chapter, it will be well 
to refresh our minds somewhat as to what is com- 
prehended in the phrase "The Plus of Humanity." 

So far, we have seen that The Plus of Humanity, 
as used in these studies, includes all those qualities 
and expressions which exist in human beings over 
and above all similar qualities and expressions which 
exist in any and all forms of life below mankind; 
and that it is this something added to the animal 
man which makes him a human being! 

Thus, it was shown in a previous chapter that in 
the item of physical appetite for food (a quality 
which, in its fundamental forms, human beings share 
in common with the brute creation), there is an 
added something in the manner in which this quality 
expresses itself in the human species, over and above 
its manner of expression in lower forms of life. 
This same characteristic was pointed out as equally 

203 



204 Children hy Chance or by Choice 

in evidence in the case of eye-sight and hearing; 
and, with like force, it might have been noted that 
it also applies to the senses of touch and smell. 

In all these forms of life-expression, it was shown 
that there is, in the human species, a double manner 
of manifestation, a two-fold means of serving and 
upbuilding the beings of whose existence they form 
an integral part. The first mode of expression of 
these qualities in human beings deals almost entirely 
with the material part of mankind, in practically 
an identical manner in which it functions in lower 
life-forms. The second, in all its varied demon- 
strations, has to do with the mental and spiritual 
upbuilding of the beings upon whom its influence is 
thrown. And because the mental and spiritual man 
is of far more moment, is of a higher order of be- 
ing, than is his material make-up, for this reason, 
the form of life-expression which constitutes the plus 
of humanity is of far more importance, and of more 
genuine worth, so far as the progress of the race 
is concerned, than is that which deals chiefly with 
his grosser elements. This principle has been 
shown as undeniably true as it applies to all the 
human characteristics thus far mentioned, and it is 
the business of this chapter to demonstrate its equal 
applicability to sex, as this quality exists in the 
human species. 

With regard to this phase of the issue, let it again 
be noted that mankind constitutes the only species 



Some Reviews and Demonstrations 205 

in which this double form of expression of the in- 
herent qualities that go to make up life-forms mani- 
fests itself in any way. But that such two-fold 
form of expression does exist in the human race, no 
one will deny, now that the fact is pointed out. 
And, this being the case, since man has the possi- 
bility of such double form of expression, it is at 
least a reasonable presumption that this added qual- 
ity was given him for his use, wherever it can be 
made to apply ; and, hence, a something to be culti- 
vated and made the most of, rather than, in any of 
its phases, to be ignored, or uprooted, or despised, 
or counted as an error in man's construction, or as 
a sin in its functioning and results, whenever it is in 
evidence ! 

Indeed, all history shows that it is by the exer- 
cise of these qualities which constitute the Plus of 
Humanity that all human progress has been 
brought about. And to destroy, or fail to utilize 
this part of man's possessions in every realm of its 
activity, would result not only in returning the race 
to barbarism, but, ultimately, it would make the hu- 
man species one form of brute existence, merely that 
and nothing more ! 

If the cooking of food and the use of table fur- 
nishings should be abandoned, only the lowering of 
the standards of human life could result from such 
elimination of these time-proven helps to human 
progress. If all that comes to man through eye- 



S06 Children hy Chance or by Choice 

sight, except the item of keeping him out of the 
ditch and of showing him where to find food, should 
be abrogated, he could not continue to live the life 
that he now lives. If the ears of man could bring 
him no more than animals' ears bring to them, he 
would be no more than the mere flesh and blood 
which they are. But man is more than flesh and 
blood, and it is the Plus of his Humanity which has 
made him so! 

This is all a review, but it is well to call it to 
mind, again, just here. 

And now let us advance a step and endeavor to 
show that what is true of the Plus of Humanity, as 
it applies to the qualities we have so far discussed, 
is equally true in the matter of sex, item for item! 

On this count, let us first note that the uniqueness 
of this quality, as it exists in the human species, is 
just as pronounced in the matter of sex as it is in 
the senses we have considered. No animal below 
man possesses the possibility of more than one form 
of sex-expression! In all the lower orders of life, 
this part of their make-up serves one purpose, and 
one only, namely, that of reproduction of the spe- 
cies, of a continuation of some particular form of 
life like unto themselves. More than this it is not, 
more than this it cannot be or become. 

Besides all this, in all forms of life below mankind, 
sex-functioning, like the uses of hunger and seeing 
and hearing, is wholly a matter of instinct ; and, as 



Some Reviews and Demonstrations 20T 

such, is in no way subject to the influence or control 
of the will. That is, in all these forms of life, re- 
production is neither a matter of chance nor of 
choice, but is as fixed as fate, a something that the 
beings which are subject to its dictates and direc- 
tions can neither increase, nor diminish, nor regu- 
late in any way, by any determination of their own. 
In this regard, there is nothing put into their keep- 
ing, or which exists as a part of their make-up, 
which they could utilize on their own initiative, if 
they chose to do so ! They are simply forms of 
life which are forced to obey what they have no 
power to resist or divert, or overcome! As some 
one has well said, all these life-forms are practically 
sex-less, except at such times as instinct virtually 
compels them to function in this part of their being. 

Now all this means that there is a possibility of 
sex-expression in human beings which is entirely be- 
yond that which exists in any other life-forms, just 
as there are possibilities of the exercise of the five 
senses in the human species in ways which mere 
animals know nothing of. And this difference in 
the possibilities of sex-expression puts humanity in 
a class by itself among life-forms, in the item of sex, 
just as truly as the difference in the possibilities of 
eye-sight and hearing, as these qualities can be ex- 
ercised by human beings, removes them from the 
sphere of mere animality. 

It is for this reason that the treatment of the 



208 Children hy Chance or by Choice 

whole sex question, as it exists in humanity, can 
never be rightly undertaken or worked out, if it be 
considered solely as though it were merely an ani- 
mal adjunct. 

The utility and the value of sex-expression as a 
human quality, are as unique and as varied as are 
those of any other of the human faculties. This is 
a fact which is almost universally ignored or denied 
by multitudes of people who ought to know better 
than to treat the subject thus; and it is such neglect 
or denial that results in untold misery and woe to 
countless human beings who might live happy and 
wholesome lives if this part of their being were prop- 
erly recognized, its needs provided for and its whole- 
some training and cultivation righteously under- 
taken. But, as things now are, all social conven- 
tions and even legal enactments make it well nigh 
impossible to realize such results. But that these 
conditions will not always obtain is as certain as is 
the progress of the human race. It may be slow 
in coming, but that it will some day arrive is as sure 
as sunrise. 

Again, the Plus of Humanity, as it applies to sex, 
is shown by the universal practice among those to 
whom such manner of living is permitted, of forms of 
sex-expression which do not exist, and which are im- 
possible among the lower forms of life. Married 
men and women habitually express themselves sex- 
ually, in ways which, in and of themselves, have 



Some Reviews and Demonstrations 209 

nothing whatever to do with reproduction, as such, 
either by way of purpose or of desire ! More than 
this, the experiences of great numbers of these hus- 
bands and wives, in this regard, prove, beyond the 
possibility of doubt, that such experiences, when 
they are perfectly mutual, promote the well-being 
of the parties thereto, physically, mentally and spir- 
itually ! When such individuals are truly mated, 
such manifestations of their mutual love result in 
good health, mental stimulation and spiritual uplift 
and exaltation. As previously noted, such people 
are not only longer lived than the average, but they 
come far nearer being normal human beings than 
those who cannot, or do not, experience these whole- 
some delights of life. They are better natured, 
wiser, happier and holier than are those who cannot 
express themselves in this way. 

Nor is this manner of sex-expression by any means 
confined to the sex organs, as such. I have termed 
it the "affectional" part of sex-expression, and its 
varied manifestations include every possible ex- 
change of the natural impulses of men and women, 
all the way from a touch of hands, a glance of the 
eyes, a meeting of the lips, to the very climax of 
sexual union. All these are, when absolutely mu- 
tual, but the ways of love; and being so, they are 
the ways of life; for, in the human species, only the 
ways of love are really the ways of life. 

But, alack and alas, as married people now live, 



210 Children by Chance or by Choice 

how few of them ever realize these greatest of all 
possibilities I Could they do so, divorce courts 
could go out of business, and the places which once 
knew such abnormalities would know them no more 
forever. For divorce courts are really abnormali- 
ties ! They are nothing more nor less than the nat- 
ural and inevitably necessary result of an abnormal 
manner of life among men and women who are only 
legally held together ; and what law alone has united, 
law has an equal right to separate! But, in both 
cases, the whole affair is an abnormality. As a 
matter of fact, in a true marriage, where a man 
and a woman are joined together because they are 
each other's natural complements and mates, with 
such, divorce courts can have nothing to do. Never 
was such a legal and man-made device called upon 
to dissolve or to dissever a union that was truly 
grounded in the absolute mutuality of the parties 
thereto! And it is further true, that no divorce 
court was ever called upon to separate a husband 
and wife the aifectional side of whose lives was mu- 
tually responsive and mutually responded to ! In 
the presence of a fact like this, it would seem to be 
true that the best way in the world to rid society of 
the divorce courts would be to teach husbands and 
wives how to live lives of normal sex-afFectional ex- 
pression! Isn't that good sense? 

Because, you see, divorce courts are thronged 
with husbands and wives who quarrel over the re- 



Some Reviews and Demonstrations 211 

productive side of married life, as they permit it to 
become involved in the affectional part of sex-expres- 
sion. They either fail to recognize the reality and 
the value of such mode of expression, as such; or 
through ignorance, or carelessness, or stupidity they 
fail to develop it or practice it. It is perfectly safe 
to say that never a divorce was asked for, where 
such a difference regarding the sex-expression of 
the parties concerned was not in evidence as the chief 
cause of all the trouble involved! But let us not 
wander too far from our main theme in pursuing this 
particular phase of the subject in hand. 

It is held by some materialists that the delights 
of the affectional expression of the sex nature in 
human beings are, as it were, imposed upon man- 
kind merely as a stimulant whose purpose it is to 
give the chance of reproduction a greater range than 
it would otherwise have. Their claim is that if the 
matter of reproduction were removed from the 
sphere of instinct as it exists among mere animals, 
and made to come within the realm of will-control, 
as it has come to be among human beings, the dan- 
ger would be that the race would cease to breed, 
unless some extra means was brought to bear upon 
individuals to lead them to do what they would fail 
to do but for this added inducement to produce a 
required result ! This theory is on par with that 
which holds that the long neck of the giraffe was ac- 
quired by its possessor continuously reaching for the 



SIS Children by Chance or hy Choice 

topmost leaves on trees, or that the elephant's tail 
fell into "innocuous desuetude" because its hide was 
so thick that flies could not bite through it, and so 
did not need to be whisked off! And yet, curious 
fact, this same nearly tail-less quadruped will stand 
and lash flies off its side all day with a wisp of hay 
held in its trunk, and a giraffe will eat grass like 
an ox with tall trees standing all about ! What won- 
der that Whitman says: "No theory is of any ac- 
count whatever that does not tally with the ampli- 
tude of the whole earth." 

And this theory as to why an extra urgency had 
to be given to man to make him breed, is just as 
foolish as is the way of accounting for the long neck 
of the giraffe, or the short tail of the elephant. As 
well argue that the purpose of the cooking of food 
and of well-set tables is a necessity, which was added 
to the human race to keep men from starving to 
death, or that pictures and reading were invented 
to keep them from going blind, or that music came 
into being to save man's ears from growing shut! 
No ! No ! None of these theories will account for, 
or are at all needed to account for the fact of the 
existence of the aff^ectional side of sex expression. 
It is a quality which is added to this part of man's 
make-up for the cultivation of his higher nature, of 
his mental and spiritual characteristics, just as good 
cooking and pleasingly set tables, and pictures and 
books, and fine music, and art of all sorts and de- 



Some Reviews and Demonstrations 213 

scriptions, have come into being to minister to some- 
thing more than the mere animal in man, namely, to 
the Plus of Humanity. These are all the product of 
a "creative evolution," as Bergson would say, rather 
than the necessity of a material and unguided evo- 
lution, whose chief factor for producing varied re- 
sults was chance, and whose means of perpetuating 
the same was crass force and favoring environment. 
Affectional sex-expression came into being for the 
same cause, and in the same manner as these other 
stimulants to a larger life have come ; and, as such, 
it should be recognized and provided for, and 
righteously cultivated. 

Again: The fact that affectional sex-expression 
belongs to The Plus of Humanity rather than to the 
more material part of man's make-up, is proved by 
this, namely, that, as such, it is no necessary element 
in the matter of reproduction ! The fertilization of 
human egg-cells may be brought about witRout in 
the least involving any exercise whatever of the af- 
fectional part of sex-expression. All that is neces- 
sary to produce such a result is to bring the two 
elements, the egg-cell and its vivifying complement, 
together, in a proper environment, and the desired 
effect is secured. This not only can be done, but 
has been done, by purely mechanical means, through 
the use of a surgical instrument! In this way, all 
that is really essential for producing "conception" 
can be accomplished, and with it the affectional ele- 



21 4< Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

ment of sex-expression need have no more to do 
than it would have in the case of any other surgical 
operation, as the amputation of an arm, or the re- 
moval of a vermiform appendix ! Just as table-fur- 
nishings and cooked food are not absolute necessi- 
ties for the preservation of the physical life of man, 
just so affectional sex-expression is not a necessity 
for the preservation of the human species. True, in 
their rightful use, they both add much to the well- 
being of the physical life of mankind; but they are 
an added help to produce such results; they belong 
to the plus of man's being, and, as such, they should 
not be treated as though they were merely animal 
qualities. Their chief function is to build up the 
mental and spiritual part of man's being; and it is 
for this purpose rather than for any other that they 
should be utilized. 

Of course, well-furnished tables and well-cooked 
food may eventuate in mere palate gratification, or 
even in gross gluttony itself ; but this is not the fault 
of these additions to the partaking of food on the 
part of human beings, nor should these helpful ac- 
cessories be abandoned or abolished because some 
people abuse their possible beneficient effects. In 
like manner that part of sex-expression which be- 
longs to the plus of humanity should not be aban- 
doned or destroyed because there are people who 
abuse its helpful influences. There are those who 
abuse the reading of books or the admiration of 



Some Reviews and Demonstrations 215 

pictures, or who go music-mad; but not for these 
reasons should the art of printing or of painting be 
abolished, or that of music be rooted out ! Analogy 
is not always conclusive, but it holds good in these 
comparisons to the utmost degree ! Think on this ! 

Once more: Another proof that afFectional sex- 
expression is no necessary part of reproduction, and 
so, that it belongs wholly, as such, to the Plus of 
Humanity, is the fact that multitudes of wives bear 
children, sometimes many of them, without experi- 
encing, in the least degree, any of the emotions and 
upbuilding influences which should accompany all 
sex manifestations between married people. What 
such wives do is to yield their bodies, often reluc- 
tantly, and sometimes even under protest, to the 
conventional and legal uses which their husbands 
virtually demand of them, and which they are prac- 
tically forced to submit to ! That is a hard say- 
ing, but that it is literally true is well known by 
all who are familiar with the facts. 

My own opinion, which is based on widely extended 
observations and the testimony of a large number 
of wives who have suffered from this cause, leads 
me to believe that these unfortunate conditions exist 
largely through ignorance on the part of both hus- 
bands and wives, and that the whole situation might 
be greatly relieved if these same people could be 
made wise where now they wholly lack knowledge. 
It is true, that much of this misery is caused by 



216 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

the carelessness of selfish husbands. Yet, even so, 
many of these do not mean to be as bad as they 
really are. They simply don't know, and hence 
they blunder along. 

Truth to tell, a large share of all this trouble 
comes from the way in which the marriage ceremony 
teaches both men and women to view their relations 
as husbands and wives. By the very wording of 
that document, the parties thereto are virtually de- 
clared to obtain certain rights which they did not 
before possess ; and because of this fact, they feel 
that they no longer need to win what they desire, 
but that they can stand on their rights, and take 
what they want, whether the party of the second 
part, on either side, is willing or otherwise! Such 
action is in accord with both law and custom; and, 
so entrenched, it continues to effect its injustices, 
not to say horrors, upon millions of wives, and some 
husbands, who are the victims of its antiquated ways 
and means. Let us hope that these things will not 
always be as they now are ! Indeed, even now, wher- 
ever affectional sex-expression is in evidence as a 
mutual factor in married life, none of these evils 
appear. But, where such righteous conditions ex- 
ist, the parties thereto have learned to separate the 
two forms of sex-expression, and they have each of 
them under complete control. It is because I know 
that this is so, and that I have seen the beneficent 
results that have come from such manner of married 



Some Reviews and Demonstrations 217 

life, that I believe in it as I do, and that I am anx- 
ious to do what I can to bring as many husbands 
and wives as possible into such a righteous way of 
living. It is for this reason that I am writing this 
book. 

The time has come, in the lives of all intelligent 
and wishing-to-do-the-right-thing men and women, 
when it should be understood that true marriage is 
not, on the one hand, a legal means of giving free 
rein to the husband's sex needs or desires ; nor is 
it, on the other hand, an institution whose function 
it is to secure for the wife social position, or some 
one who is responsible for her shelter and her board 
and clothes! 

As divinely ordained, the purpose of marriage is 
two-fold, and each part of its double design is of 
equal value and moment. It can rightly exist only 
on a fifty-fifty basis, and everything that can be 
done, should be done, to bring it to such successful 
estate. On the one hand, as a biological institution 
merely, it offers a practical means for the propaga- 
tion of the human species, a rightful opportunity for 
the birth and rearing of children. On the other 
hand, it should be the centre of everything that per- 
tains to the Plus of Humanity as a factor in human 
progress. The afFectional side of human life, as 
it manifests itself in myriads of ways, should be the 
chief element in all its out-workings. It should give 
to the husband and wife an unrestricted opportunity 



SI 8 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

for the mutual expressions of this part of their na- 
tures in all its belongings, and the same influence 
should be in evidence in every part of the household, 
whose totality is included in the word "home." 
Truth should be its cornerstone, and love the arch 
to its doorway. The keystone to love's arch should 
be courtesy, with justice and kindness for its sup- 
porting pillars. All these things are but parts of 
the Plus of Humanity, and they include everything 
that makes for human progress, for the well-being of 
mankind. Mere animals can have no part in the 
like, but for human souls they are the chief things 
in life — all that life is really for, so far as its main 
issues are concerned. 

Another proof that affectional sex-expression is 
no essential element in reproduction, and so, that it 
has an entity of its own, which is justly entitled to 
recognition and regard, is the fact that the possi- 
bilities of its expression are manifest, -in certain 
ways, in human beings, both male and female, long 
before and long after reproduction is possible by 
either of these! Children show signs that they are 
possessed of this quality, some of them even in 
babyhood, and all of them who are normal, in the 
early years of their lives, certainly long before they 
come to puberty. These manifestations appear in 
the form of auto-erotic acts which were once held 
to be abnormal, but which are now recognized as 
only precocious responses to innate impulses which 



Some Reviews and Demonstrations 219 

are to serve most valuable purposes in the mature 
life of the individual of whose being they are a right- 
ful and most important part. It is true that such 
early expressions may be too pronounced, in some 
cases ; but, even so, they are to be rightly directed 
rather than unduly suppressed. Much less should 
an endeavor be made to annihilate them, or to de- 
stroy them, root and branch ! Yet such is the treat- 
ment that these qualities often receive at the hands 
of ignorant, even if well-meaning parents. For this 
cause, multitudes of children and youth, of both 
sexes, are needlessly frightened nearly to death, and 
often suffer the tortures of the damned, not only at 
the hands of their natural guardians, but even still 
more from their own wrong mental attitudes towards 
this part of their much-misunderstood, but perfectly 
wholesome belongings which they have been wrongly 
taught about. This particular remark may not go 
to prove the rightful place of affectional sex-expres- 
sion among married people, but the point I have 
made was so close at hand that I could not help re- 
marking it. And we all know how much what I 
have said needs to be said. 

But as affectional sex-expression is possible be- 
fore the age of puberty, even still more remarkable 
is the fact that it persists, in both men and women, 
long after the possibilities of reproduction have dis- 
appeared. The egg-cell producing period for 
women rarely exceeds the age of forty-five years; 



220 Children by Chance or by Choice 

but the ability for affectional sex-expression, in nor- 
mal women, often extends to extreme old age. 
Among men, this item of the limitation of a possi- 
ble fertilizing period is not as definitely determined 
as in the case of the cell-producing period among 
women ; but in normal male beings who have not lived 
abnormal sex-lives, the possibilities of affectional 
sex-expression remain in equal proportion to the con- 
tinuation of the rest of their faculties. 

Still another proof that affectional sex-expres- 
sion is no essential part of reproduction is the fact 
that, in the case of normal women who are preg- 
nant, such manifestation of this part of their na- 
tures is not only possible, but, in many cases, it is 
more in evidence than at any other time in their 
lives ! Such experience is entirely impossible with 
all other female life-forms, many of whom would 
fight to the death before they would yield their bod- 
ies to a sexual union during the gestation period. 
Beside this, no male of the lower orders of animal 
life ever makes any sexual advances whatever 
towards any female of its kind that is pregnant. 
All this is a matter of instinct with these life-forms ; 
and, as such, eventuates as it does. But in the hu- 
man species, among all normal individuals, all this 
is different. The normal wife is as susceptible to 
blissful wooing during this part of her life as at 
any other, and her husband, if he is what he should 
be, is as much, or more, her gentle wooer then than 



Some Reviews and Demonstrations 221 

at any other time in all their married experiences. 

And may I be permitted to add that most of the 
books and "authorities" are against all such affec- 
tional sex-expression during the gestation period of 
wives. And here again, the same old wickedness of 
making a comparison, or analogy, between human 
beings and mere animals gets in its shameful work! 
The argument runs thus: 

A : No female animal will submit to sexual experi- 
ence during the gestation period. 

B: Woman is a female animal, and, therefore, 

C: No woman should submit to, or permit sexual 
expression during the gestation period. 

This is the same old material syllogism that is 
used to prove that reproduction is the sole func- 
tion of sex in the human species, as I have noted in 
a previous chapter, and it is as wicked as it is un- 
true! It entirely leaves out, or excludes the su- 
preme fact of The Plus of Humanity as an element 
of human life, and so sets up as truth that which is 
really the most stupid, not to say vicious of lies ! 

The fact is, that afFectional sex-expression may 
reach a height so much above the mere reproductive 
element, as such, that, in its demonstrations it need 
not consider at all, or in the least, the more ma- 
terial portion of this in-some-ways dual function of 
this part of humanity's make-up. Indeed, because 
of the wrong teachings of the books and "authori- 
ties" on this point, thousands of conscientious but 



222 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

misled husbands and wives have suffered needlessly 
and severely, in body, mind and spirit, through their 
efforts to suppress or annihilate that which was as 
natural a longing for expression as was their de- 
sire for wholesome food. This is one more place 
where ignorance of the truth has caused many of 
the very best of husbands and wives to miss some of 
the finest and most wholesome experiences of wedded 
life. 

Of course, it goes without saying, that such sex- 
expression should be absolutely mutual, under these 
conditions. If otherwise, it is not only an abomina- 
tion, but an outrage that is really a horrible crime, 
although the statutes do not count it as such, if 
the parties are legally married ! This seems beyond 
belief, but it is true. Not only so, but the law gives 
the husband the right to compel the wife to submit 
to his demands, even when she is thus conditioned! 
And this in civilized nations ! 

Perhaps I should add, for the assurance of doubt- 
ful readers of the last few paragraphs, that I have 
based the opinions I have expressed regarding af- 
fectional sex-expression during the gestation period, 
on the testimony of a large number of the best of 
husbands and wives who have voluntarily and hon- 
estly given me the benefit of their own personal ex- 
periences in this part of their married lives. And 
such demonstrations I accept as true, rather than 



Some Reviews and Demonstrations 223 

what the books say, or alleged "authorities" pre- 
scribe. 

Now all of these facts to which I have referred, 
go to prove that affectional sex-expression is no nec- 
essary part of reproduction. They prove that it 
is an essentially human quality, a something added 
to the material, or animal, part of man, a Plus of 
Humanity, whose purpose is something higher than 
mere materiality, and which, rightly exercised, tends 
to build up, and bring to its best estate all the no- 
blest qualities in mankind. Animals know nothing 
of it ; it can never be any part of their lives, in any 
way; and to treat it as if it were a mere animal be- 
longing, or to deny it proper exercise and function- 
ing, is a sin of the most flagrant and damnable sort ! 
As I have said before, and more than once, as well 
declare cooked food, or books, or music mere ani- 
mal qualities, and treat these as such, as to en- 
deavor to rule out affectional sex-expression from 
the lives of husbands and wives. 

And if this is so, as so it is, the right thing to do 
is to make the best possible provision for such ex- 
pression of the sex-impulse of human beings; and 
this can only be done by rendering its practice pos- 
sible without incurring the risk or the chance of in- 
volving the element of reproduction ! In other 
words, whenever reproduction enters the realm of 
sex-expression, conditions should be such, knowl- 



2S4 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

edge should be such, that its demonstration should 
be a matter of choice by the parties thereto, an act 
in which the element of chance should be in no way 
involved. 

Of course, in any case where reproduction is the 
deliberate purpose of sex-expression, the affectional 
element not only might be present, but it should be 
present, in limitless degree ! Such mutual synchro- 
nism of the two forms of sex-expression is the very 
acme of this part of wedded life. The point I wish 
to make is that such experience should always be 
under the absolute control of the will, and not a mat- 
ter of chance, as it now is, for the most part, the 
world over. 

Now, all husbands and wives know that if such 
a condition of affairs as this could be brought about, 
it would add many fold to the happiness, the well- 
being and the mutual satisfaction of their married 
lives. It would not result in gross debauchery, much 
less would it bring about licentiousness, or un- 
healthy, or unrighteous, or unholy living. On the 
contrary, it would settle nine-tenths of all marital 
troubles that are now a disgrace to the estate, make 
happy wives out of those who are now miserable 
beyond telling, and save thousands of husbands from 
unwholesome sex-experiences with women other than 
their wedded wives ! And these are all consumma- 
tions devoutly to be wished. 

As things now are, with these two forms of ex- 



Soine Reviews and Demonstrations 225 

pression of the sex-impulse hopelessly entangled, so 
that the more subtle and mutually <iesired one can- 
not be realized without the chance of involving the 
other, the constant tendency is to inhibit altogether 
the part which belongs to the Plus of Humanity, and 
so to rule out of married life possibilities which, 
rightfully exercised, would result in the highest good 
of the husband and wife. For, the truth is, beyond 
all question, not only that a mutually desired ex- 
ercise of the sex-organs of normal husbands and 
wives, other than for reproduction, tends to promote 
everything that is best in their lives, but that such 
mutual love-exchanges are absolutely essential to 
their health, happiness and wholesome well-being! 

But if, at every sex-meeting, the wife has to take 
chances of becoming pregnant, such fact will always 
tend to make her reluctant to engage in such ex- 
ercise; and if she persists in such denial, the possi- 
bilities are many to one that she will either alienate 
her husband's affections, or cause him to lead a dis- 
solute life with other women. It is the universal 
testimony of the keepers of brothels that a very 
large part of their patronage comes from married 
men ! And could anything be worse than that ? And 
the cause of this is what I have just stated. 

Is it not as clear as daylight that the way to rem- 
edy such a deplorable condition of affairs would be 
to make the item of reproduction on the part of 
married people a matter of choice rather than one 



226 Children by Chance or by Choice 

of chance, to make affectional sex-expression pos- 
sible without involving that of conception? The 
reasons why this has not been permitted are not far 
to seek, and I shall recount them in due time. 

Nor will it at all serve to preach to married peo- 
ple the doctrine of "don't," to insist that they should 
live strictly continent lives, and utilize their sex na- 
tures only for reproductive purposes. This method 
has been advocated in certain quarters, all through 
the ages, but it leads to nothing but constant lying 
and deception and fraud. Normal men and women 
will never live such lives as husbands and wives ; and 
it was never intended that they should do so ! The 
added form of sex-expression which came to man- 
kind as a part of the Plus of Humanity was de- 
signed for use; and, as such, it should be provided 
for and made the most of. There is one way to 
bring about such a result, and that is to make con- 
ception in the human family a matter of choice and 
not one of chance. Quod erat demonstrandum! 

In the presence of these indisputable facts, two 
things are clear: First, that the item of reproduc- 
tion of the human species should be made a matter 
of special, definite and scientific study, till all the 
facts pertaining to it are well understood, and thor- 
oughly mastered; and then, when such positive 
knowledge has been obtained, the same should be 
placed at the service of all people who are legally 
entitled to bring children into this world. If you, 



Some Reviews and Demonstrations 227 

whoever you are, doubt that this should be done, will 
you stop your reading, right here, and write out, 
for yourself, at least, even one good and sufficient 
reason for your denial of the proposition. I will 
presently give some of the sources from which oppo- 
sition to such attainment has heretofore come; but 
that the objections which these parties have so long 
put forward are either groundless altogether, or 
that they are now antiquated because of certain 
changes which have come into existence in social life 
in recent years, I shall show to the extent of a posi- 
tive demonstration. 

This, then, is the first step to be taken, so far as 
genuine progress in this item of human attainment 
is concerned. It goes without saying that, before 
the second part of this proposition can be realized 
upon, the laws which now prevent the dissemination 
of knowledge, thus scientificially obtained, will have 
to be changed so as to permit such advance; but 
this is also something that can be done, and that 
will be done, when the time is fully ripe for its doing. 
"When the materials are prepared, the architects 
shall appear ! I swear to you, they surely shall ap- 
pear !" Let us never doubt that this will be so ! 

There was once a time in the history of the 
United States when citizens were not only prohibited 
by law from assisting slaves to obtain their freedom, 
but they might be legally compelled to help capture 
such as had escaped, and return them to their mas- 



228 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

ters. Such laws are no longer in evidence; and if 
they had their little day, and then perished, how 
much more will it some time be possible to rectify 
the errors in our present statutes which now ob- 
struct the dissemination of useful and needed knowl- 
edge among all our people? The world not only 
does move, but it Tnwst move ; for so it is ordained 
in the eternal order of things ! 

And, concurrently with the discovery of such ways 
and means for the reproduction of the human spe- 
cies, and the utilization of the knowledge thus ob- 
tained, there must be inaugurated a study and de- 
velopment of The Art of Love among all those who 
marry or are given in marriage. The Art of Love 
is only another name for the affectional expression 
of the sex nature as this exists in human beings ; 
and I have more than once shown that all of this 
belongs to the Plus of Humanity. And whatever 
belongs to the Plus of Humanity needs to be culti- 
vated and made to grow, and brought to its possible 
best as such. It cannot be left to the uninstructed 
guidance of instinct, since instinct can only deal suc- 
cessfully with that part of life which is below the 
plane of humanity, that is, with mere animality. It 
has been so left to shift for itself in the past, for 
the most part, and most of the evils that now ham- 
per and disgrace married life have resulted from this 
cause. Newly married people have been permitted, 
are now permitted, not to say forced, to enter this 



Some Reviews and DeTnonstrations 229 

most important of all experiences of their lives, in 
absolute ignorance of the essential facts which alone 
can make such relation a success ! Both law and 
social conventions have virtually said: "Let them 
alone ! They will find the way ! Nature and instinct 
are sufficient guides, and these will stand them in 
stead without help or guidance from any other 
source! Let them alone!" If there was ever a fool- 
ish, wicked and utterly damnable blasphemy devised 
or uttered by mankind, such is included, to the limit, 
in the above-quoted words ! 

As well say to each new generation regarding the 
cooking of food: "Let the young people alone! 
They will find the way ! Nature and instinct will 
teach them how, etc." All intelligent people have 
gotten far enough along in the experiences of life 
not to say, or even think, these last-quoted words, as 
they, might apply to the cooking of food. But few 
are they who will dare to do other than to act upon 
all that is included in the same words as they refer 
to the married relations of newly-wedded husbands 
and wives ! And yet, the ignorantly-done acts of 
newly-weds, as these pertain to their most intimate 
relations, have wrecked more marital happiness than 
could possibly have come to the same parties from 
an utter lack of knowledge regarding the cooking 
of food, or inability to avail themselves of the learn- 
ing from books or the hearing of music ! 

We teach our boys how to build and take care 



230 Children hy Chance or by Choice 

of fires made out of wood or coal; but not one 
word do we vouchsafe to them about the proper 
and righteous management and control of the fires 
of passion that often bum in their veins with the 
most intense fury! The only comment we ever 
make to them upon such conditions is to preach the 
doctrine of "don't" to them in their youthful days ; 
and then, when they marry, we give them the legal 
right to let these long-smothered flames of passion, 
whose suppression or abnormal burnings may have 
transformed them into a volcano of ignorant lust, 
rage with limitless abandon or fury, in a realm where 
only the most wisely directed, perfectly controlled 
and skillfully applied warmth or heat should be in 
evidence! We teach our girls how to come into a 
room properly, and how to entertain their company, 
when once they are there; but not one word do we 
say to them about how to enter the most sacred 
precincts of married life, or how to care for them- 
selves and their companions in this most complicated* 
of all human relations ! We say : "Let them alone ! 
They will find the way! Nature and instinct will 
teach them, etc." Does it seem possible that such 
idiotic and wholly abominable conditions should con- 
tinue to exist among people who claim to be civi- 
lized ? 

As a matter of fact, there have been, and still 
are, savage tribes which deal better with these basic 
affairs of life than many civilized peoples do! 



Some Reviews and Demonstrations S31 

Among such, it is often customary for young mar- 
ried people to be initiated into the mysteries of the 
new experiences of life they have entered upon with 
the most sacred of ceremonies, and for them to be 
instructed in marital ways by their elders, who have 
had experience, the results of which they can trans- 
mit to those who come after. Under such condi- 
tions, those who start out to travel a road which is 
new and strange to them, have the benefit of the 
knowledge of those who have gone over the way be- 
fore them, and who know its crooks and turns, its 
dangerous pitfalls and its bottomless bogs ! 

And is it not strange beyond telling, that, in this 
most difficult of all ways to travel successfully, the 
knowledge and the experience of one generation are 
kept from those who are to come after, and who 
must make their way, unguided, where they so much 
need to know what is before them? In all other 
lines of life, the wisdom which one generation has 
obtained, indeed, which all previous generations have 
acquired, is preserved and passed on to those who 
are to come after. Think of all the cook books 
which tell how to prepare food for the use of man; 
or of the printed pages which embody the wisdom of 
all past years ; or of the pictures which artists long 
dead have left for the living of today to admire and 
to learn from; or of the music which the geniuses of 
former days have recorded for the delight of com- 
ing generations — think on these things, and then 



2S2 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

remember how not one word has been left regarding 
righteous sex-life and rightful sex-living, and the 
moral of the anomalous fact! 

And then think of how little progress could ever 
have been made in all these lines of life if each in- 
dividual in each successive generation had been 
obliged to find out everything pertaining to this or 
that, all on his own initiative, and without a single 
hint of help from those who had preceded him! 
Suppose that every woman who had to prepare food 
had to find out all about cooking from her own 
experimentations with the raw material! Or that, 
in the realm of literature, and art, and music, every 
one had to make all discoveries unaided by former 
experiences and records of the same ! The very idea 
of such a condition is almost unthinkable! Under 
such conditions, human progress would have been 
impossible through all the years; and after aeons 
had passed, man would still be the same groping 
and grovehng animal he was at the beginning of his 
entrance into time and space ! 

And yet! Such a state of affairs would be no 
worse than we now have in the sex-lives of millions 
of people today ! From these, all knowledge of past 
experiences in such life is withheld ! All in this part 
of man's being is left to instinct!! What wonder 
that no progress has been made in this part of 
man's life under these conditions? Why not leave 
cooking to instinct, or poetry, or painting, or music 



Some Reviews and Demonstrations 233 

or clothes-making, or the cultivation of the soil, or 
bridge-building, or road-making, or a thousand-and- 
one of the arts of living which have done so much 
for the progress of the human race — why not leave 
all these to instinct? Why not say of the on-comers 
of each generation, regarding all these things : "Let 
them alone ! They will find the wa}^ ! Their in- 
stincts will be a sufficient guide. Let them alone !" 

Good people ! Could there be a worse blasphemy 
than that? Could there be a greater sin against 
everything that could be sinned against, than that? 
And yet — ^brethren and sisters, let us think on these 
things, and then let us try our best to make these 
worst of all conditions better than they now are. 
For of such is the kingdom of heaven. 

What all human beings must come to understand 
is that the Art of Love is one of the most important 
of all the arts that have ever been devised for man 
to acquire ; and that the Science of Procreation is 
one of the most vital that has ever been placed 
within the possibility of man's attainment. Not 
only are both of these things true, but it is equally 
certain that the first of them, namely. The Art of 
Love, is the most puzzling and subtle of all arts to 
attain in perfection, and that The Science of Pro- 
creation in the human family is the most difficult 
of all scientific problems to solve. And yet, for the 
most part, so far in the history of the race, both 
of these most vital issues of human life have been 



234 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

left to the guidance of instinct alone, a faculty which 
belongs to lower forms of life, and which serves their 
purposes well, but which has little or no value what- 
ever in meeting and supplying the needs of humanity 
in any of the realms where the Plus of Humanity 
is in evidence. The Art of Love, and the Science of 
Procreation as it applies to human beings, belong 
entirely to that part of man which I have named 
The Plus of Humanity. And everything that falls 
within that sphere needs study and cultivation and 
mastery and wise and intelligent application if prog- 
ress is to be secured. 

To this end, all young people should be carefully 
taught and wisely instructed in both the Art of Love 
and the Science of Procreation before they ever be 
permitted to enter the sacred realm of marriage. 
We require the teacher, the doctor, the clergyman, 
etc., to present a diploma which vouches for their 
fitness in the callings they are about to enter, be- 
fore we permit them to take their places in the com- 
munities upon whose inhabitants they would prac- 
tice! And yet, we legally prohibit young people 
from acquiring even an elementary knowledge of 
themselves or of their mates, so far as sex is con- 
cerned, before they enter upon the sex-relations 
which form the chief item of difference between mar- 
ried life and that of mere comradeship ! As a mat- 
ter of fact, far less misery would result to human- 
ity if quack doctors and snide lawyers and ignorant 



Some Reviews and Demonstrations S35 

preachers were turned loose, galore, in all our com- 
munities, everywhere, than now comes to society as 
a whole, and to individuals in particular, from per- 
mitting young people to marry ignorantly, as they 
must do under present conditions ! There is not 
a doubt in the world about the truth of this state- 
ment, and we all know it. And yet 

What we must do is, first, make a careful and de- 
tailed record in books, of all the sex knowledge of 
husbands and wives which has so far been attained 
by their experiences and experimentations, and to 
add to this such new discoveries along sex lines as 
may be made by the most careful study and most 
searching investigations of the wisest men and 
women in all the world who will devote their lives to 
such work. That is the first thing to be done to bet- 
ter the present situation. The second is, to dis- 
seminate the knowledge thus obtained so that it may 
be available to all the sons and daughters of men 
who enter the married state. To this end both the 
Art of Lo^e and the Science of Procreation should 
be taught by the ablest of teachers, wise and skillful 
men and women, who should thus transmit to those 
who come after, the wisdom and knowledge of those 
who have gone before. We do this in all other lines 
of life ! Can any sane person give even one good 
and sufficient reason why we should not pursue the 
same course in the realm of sex knowledge? On 
the contrary, does not every condition that we are 



236 Children hy Chance or by Choice 

now surrounded by, demand that we should deal with 
this part of human life as we do with all the others 
that confront us? There can be but one sane an- 
swer to this question. And it will be answered as it 
should be, some day, some time ! 

As already said, before these things can be done, 
the legal barriers against such doing must be re- 
moved, but even this can .be done. Because it should 
be done, it can be done; and because it can be done, 
it will be done. For such is the eternal order of 
things. 

Now, I am well aware that to some, perhaps to 
many, of my readers, what I have just outlined may 
seem only an "irridescent dream." They may think, 
and even say: "It can never be. It is too much 
to even hope for. Human nature is human nature. 
Man was born to demand, and woman was bom to 
submit. It has always been so, and it will always 
be so. Better let well enough alone. If you go to 
'meddling with nature's ways,' you are bound to 
get into trouble. Of course some husbands fail to 
make their wives happy, and some wives fail to make 
their husbands happy ; but that is their personal 
affair. They made their bed, let them lie in it, as 
the old saying goes. You can't eliminate misery 
from this world, and what's the use of trying to do 
the impossible? Besides that, you can't teach peo- 
ple about these things. They won't stand for it, 
and the law forbids it. Better leave things as they 



Some Reviews and Demonstrations 237 

are. Let nature work it out. If it is to be, it will 
be, so what's the use of bothering!" 

Well, I don't know as it is much use to try to 
convince those who say these things. As Whitman 
says : "Logic and argument never convince." Still, 
it is certain that the world has progressed much 
along lines of life where advance at times seemed 
impossible; and from such facts I gain courage to 
hope that better things may be in store for human- 
ity, in days to come, along the lines on which I am 
writing. I remember that it was nearly two cen- 
turies after the discovery was made that the earth 
is round before the fact was accepted by the "high- 
est authorities" ; and that, though nineteen hundred 
years have passed since the Founder of Christianity 
lived, the eternal principles of righteousness which 
He taught are still but partly understood and ac- 
cepted. Truly, we have to learn to "patiently wait 
for outcomes," but meantime, we will do what we 
can to make good better, and to help the better al- 
ways to move toward the best. 

And even as I write, there comes to me a sign of 
the times that makes for what I have a long while 
been looking for. This is a book by Dr. H. W. 
Long, entitled "Sane Sex Life and Sane Sex Liv- 
ing," * and the careful reading I have given it proves 
that it is just what its title declares it to be. The 
author of the book is a physician who has evidently 
* Richard G. Badger, The Gorham Press, Boston, Mass. 



238 Children by Chance or hy Choice 

studied long, intelligently and well the sex-problems 
that his married patients have encountered, and con- 
cerning which they have sought his counsel and 
advice; and the book he has written is a compen- 
dium of what he has said to them, all and several, 
as the years have gone by. What he has said in 
this book is only putting into written words the 
wholesome information and thoroughly scientific 
knowledge which his patrons did not possess, and 
for lack of which they suffered all sorts of marital 
woes and distresses. In a sort of fatherly way, and 
speaking rather as a loving and sympathetic coun- 
selor than as a coldly-scientific practitioner, he has 
told just what his people wanted to know, and just 
what they needed to know in order to make married 
life a success. To the newly wedded his teachings 
were a revelation, a clear light to guide untutored 
feet over what was to them an unknown way. And 
to the married people who had been made unhappy 
through ignorance of their sex-natures, his words 
imparted such knowledge as they needed to enable 
them to succeed where they had so far failed. And, 
after some years of most successful work in the nat- 
urally limited field of his personal practice, he was 
induced, by some who knew of what he had done, to 
print what he began by giving only vocal utterance 
to, and in this way to widely extend his teachings 
which had heretofore been quite circumscribed. But 



Some Reviews and Demonstrations S39 

— and here comes in the same old legal hindrance 
which I have before referred to — under present 
United States' laws, the book can be "sold only to 
members of recognized professions," and so it can- 
not, as- yet, reach the multitudes of married people 
who would be immeasurably benefited by the in- 
formation it contains. The pity of it! The book 
is wholly unlike any other of a similar sort that I 
have ever read, or that I know anything about; 
and, though necessarily hampered by the present 
restrictions upon its general circulation, I am sure 
the professional men and women who are legally 
permitted to own it, will pass on to their constitu- 
ents the valuable knowledge it contains. 

Need I say that my reason for mentioning this 
book as I have is not for "advertising purposes," 
but only to give proof of the statement I have made 
that it is possible to teach these delicate matters in 
a way that is at once wholesome and easily under- 
stood, and which results in untold benefit to the 
husbands and wives who can avail themselves of such 
teaching. Dr. Long's experiences, which he out- 
lines in the preface to his book, demonstrate to a 
finish the realization of such a possibility, and that 
is the "sign of the times" which caused me to say what 
I have about it. The time will come when not only 
this book, but many others like it, will be within 
the reach of even the rank and file, and with this 



240 Children by Chance or by Choice 

coming there will also come wise and sympathetic 
teachers who will expound to eager learners, the 
truths which such books contain. 

May I add, that Dr. Long's book is utterly unlike 
any book on the subject of sex that I know about, 
in that it has not a single word to say about "vene- 
real diseases," a subject which usually occupies a 
large portion of the pages of such books, sometimes 
quite to the limits of boredom, not to say disgust. 
And this also is a noteworthy step forward in the 
line of this sort of literature. Speed the day, not 
only when this book can go to the people, but others, 
such as I have suggested, along with it. Under the 
guidance of such instruction as such books and 
teachers can give, at least something of what we 
all hope for may become possible to a degree at 
least ; and such progress being made, more is sure 
to follow, until, in due time, the reproduction of 
the human species shall come wholly under the con- 
trol of the human will, and all children which are 
then born into this world shall come into being by 
choice and not by chance. 

Concurrent with this new order of things, will 
be the ability of husbands and wives to respond to 
their affectional sex-impulses, throughout all the 
lines of their varied modes of expression; to culti- 
vate and bring to full realization the part of their 
sex-nature which lies wholly within the realm of 
the Plus of Humanity. Such results may be slow 



Some Reviews and Demonstrations 241 

in coming, and long in arriving, but the desire of all 
husbands and wives goes out toward such conditions 
in married life; their imaginations picture such new 
order of things, and, some day, the ingenuity of some 
divinely inspired genius, or geniuses, will find the 
way to realize the hope of these noblest of all the 
men and women in all the world, the fathers and 
mothers of generations yet to be! So may it be! 



CHAPTER XII 

SOME RESULTS THAT WOULD PROBABLY FOLLOW SUCH 
A NEW ORDER OF THINGS IN MARRIED LIFE 

Beyond question, the first, and perhaps the most 
welcome, and in some respects the most important 
of all the results that would follow from such new 
order of things in married life as I have just de- 
picted, would be the immeasurable relief that would 
come to husbands and wives (especially wives) as 
they felt themselves freed from the caprices of chance 
which are now so largely in evidence in marital rela- 
tions, and within the sure realm of certainty as to 
results that would come only from their own delib- 
erate choosing! The burden of care and anxiety 
which would thus be lifted from the shoulders of the 
married portion of mankind is beyond the possibility 
of estimation. 

And here is another place where statistics need 
not be called upon to verify the truth of a statement 
made. "Only what everybody knows is so, is so," 
says the Good Gray Poet ; and his words were never 
so applicable as they are in this item of the doubt, 
uncertainty and dread which continually obtain in 

242 



New Order of Things in Married Life 243 

the lives of all intelligent husbands and wives who 
honestly wish to wisely order all the affairs of their 
lives so that they may be sure of the results which 
are to follow their acts. 

And this does not at all mean that husbands and 
wives would give themselves up to all sorts of ex- 
travagant sexual indulgences if once they were made 
masters of the principles and practice of birth con- 
trol which, under the present order of things, they 
are practically unable to attain to. On the con- 
trary, all my investigations have tended to establish 
the fact that where both forms of sex-expression are 
fully within the intelligent control of the husband 
and wife, a temperate exercise of these qualities in- 
variably results. 

And it is most natural that this should be so, ac- 
cording to the principle that perfect satisfaction in 
any of the experiences of life leads directly to the 
most wholesome ways of living. It is the unsatisfied, 
and so the restless, who indulge in excesses or de- 
bauchery! It is very seldom that one who happily 
sits at a well-spread table and there regularly eats 
his meals of well-cooked food, which fully meets the 
needs of his physical appetite, both as to his ma- 
terial make-up and the Plus of his humanity — it is 
very seldom that such a man becomes a drunkard 
or a glutton, or the victim of a disordered diges- 
tion which may come from either too little or too 
much eating! And when the absolute mutuality 



244 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

of two parties is necessary for perfect satisfaction, 
and this is constantly unrealized, then is the liabil- 
ity to excess, or unnaturalness, or unwholesomeness 
greatly increased. 

And the well-known fact is, that where the wife, 
from fear of possible chance results, always hesitates 
and often refuses to meet the advances of her hus- 
band, both the parties, and especially the husband, 
are constantly left unsatisfied ; and it is such unsat- 
isf action which leads to all sorts of the most unwhole- 
some, and not infrequently shameful practices on the 
part of those who are thus circumstanced. 

Under these conditions, this part of married life 
is a source of constant disagreement between multi- 
tudes of husbands and wives, a state of affairs which 
leads to habitual unrest, and not infrequently to con- 
tinuous quarrels, than which nothing could be worse. 
Where married people live in this way (and multi- 
tudes do, as we all know) love soon departs never 
to return, and a hollow mockery is all that remains 
of what might have been, under other and rightful 
conditions, a union of "two souls with but a single 
thought, two hearts that beat as one"! But such 
a happy attainment as this can never be reached 
when there is a constant difference between the par- 
ties concerned, where one is continually proposing 
and the other perpetually opposing an expression 
of life which, in its rightful exercise, is as natural, as 



New Order of Things in Married Life 245 

wholesome and as upbuilding to all that is best in 
mankind as is breathing. 

Another result that would probably follow from 
putting into the hands of husband and wives the 
definite possibility of determining by choice the num- 
ber of children they would have, would be a lessen- 
ing of the number of children bom into this world. 
On this point I shall have more to say in a later 
chapter; but a few words about it, just here. 

It is held by those who oppose "birth control" in 
any form, that such a condition of affairs would re- 
sult in "race suicide"; but those who thus assert, or 
who profess to believe such doctrine, fail to take into 
account certain basic facts which are inherent in 
human nature, while at the same time they neglect, 
or refuse to state, their real reasons for this oppo- 
sition to what they inveigh against. 

The item in the count which they overlook is the 
natural desire for children which is deeply implanted 
in the innermost make-up of all normal human be- 
ings! Doubtless it is true that, in some highly 
sophisticated or abnormal specimens of mankind, 
both male and female, the desire for progeny has 
atrophied or in some unfortunate way been lost. 
But, take human beings, as a whole, the one chief, 
desire of life is to perpetuate their kind, to have 
children of their own, and not physical hunger for 
food itself has a firmer grip on their actions or their 



246 Children by Chance or by Choice 

hopes ! We see this clearly in the case of all nor- 
mal women, but among men the fact is not so openly 
in evidence. But in a final analysis, in a crucial 
test, the fact appears that normal men are as de- 
sirous of parenthood as are their natural counter- 
parts ! Mr. Bernard Shaw has made this the motive 
of his immortal play, "Man and Superman," and he 
brings the real situation to a powerful climax when 
his hero. Jack Tanner, throws all the ambitions of 
his life to the winds, if needs be, in order that he 
may obtain parenthood; and he makes him say, as 
he takes Ann in his arms : "Is there a father's heart 
as well as a mother's.''" There is but one truthful 
answer to his question, and that is a universal one! 
Mr. Shaw's chief character responds to it in the 
affirmative, as the body, mind and soul of every nor- 
mal man in all the world inspire him to do ! So 
much for normal men ; and as for normal women, 
their natural desire for motherhood is the chief ele- 
ment of their lives. We all know that this is so, 
and "what everybody knows is so, is so" ! 

I have a friend who is a more-than-once million- 
aire. I have known him from boyhood, and have 
seen him grow from comparative poverty to the 
possession of great wealth. As his fortune was 
a-making, he married a beautiful woman, and for 
a number of years he and his wife have been very 
prominent in the social life of the city in which they 
live. But they have never had any children ! I was 



New Order of Things in Married Life 247 

talking with him, not long ago, and congratulating 
him on his remarkable success in the business world ; 
but I added that I had only one thing against him, 
and that was, that he had no children. I had no 
idea that I so seriously wounded him by my re- 
mark ; but he turned from me for a moment and was 
silent. And when he faced me again there were tears 
in his eyes, "strong business man" as everybody 
counted him to be, and he said: "Don't blame me! 
Somehow that was not to be for wife and me ! But 
we would be willing to give, right now, the half of 
all the fortune we possess, and then some, for just 
one baby that was really truly all our own!'' Yea, 
verily ! There is a father's heart in man as well as 
a mother's heart in woman, and this great passion 
of humanity will be realized upon by both, in the 
long run, in the vast majority of cases, come what 
may! The only point I urge is, that it will be far 
the better for all parties concerned, that such su- 
preme consummation of all human realizations should 
be a matter of deliberate choice rather than a freak 
of chance. And can any sane soul say nay to that? 
Of course, there will be those who, under these 
conditions, will deliberately remain childless; but is 
it not best that these should be that way? As a 
rule people who do not want children are not fit to 
bring them up; and people who are not fit to bring 
children up, ought not to have them! The crying 
evil in this whole affair, as it now exists, is that 



248 Children by Chance or by Choice 

many people who do not want children chance to 
have them, and that the children that they bring 
into the world are obliged to grow up under con- 
ditions that are as unpropitious for their successful 
rearing as could possibly be. My belief is that these 
things would be much less frequent than they now 
are if all children who are born could come into be- 
ing by choice rather than by chance! Do you 
doubt it? 

But, beyond all this, it is quite certain that many 
people who desire to have children, would, under the 
order of things I have proposed, have fewer than 
they do now. The reasons for this are many, and 
not far to seek. First, under our present economic 
conditions, people who are too poor to properly sup- 
port a large family would not be obliged to have a 
large family to support. This, and still they would 
not be deprived of affectional sex-expression which, 
wholesomely exercised, so much inures to their well- 
being, and which, with chance as one of its factors, 
they would have to inhibit if they kept the number 
of their offspring within reasonable limits. 

Again, with only as many children in the family 
as they could fairly well provide for, parents could 
take such care of these as their well-being required, 
and in this way give them a start in life which would 
lead them to be better citizens when they were grown 
than they would have been if reared in poverty. 
This, as regards both the bodies and the minds of 



New Order of Things in Married Life ^49 

what children they had. They could feed and clothe 
their progeny in at least wholesome comfort, and 
they could give them such an education as it befits 
an intelligent human being to have. They would 
not be obliged to put their children to work till they 
were able to do the tasks assigned them without det- 
riment to their health or their morals, and in this 
way their offspring would have far better opportu- 
nity to grow into normal men and women than they 
would have under less propitious conditions. 

Besides this, what children were bom would un- 
doubtedly be stronger and healthier when they came^ 
into being than they would be if they were, each 
of them, one of too many for a mother to bear. 
For, while it is certainly true that there are now 
and' then women who can bear a large number of 
children successfully, yet such are exceptions, and 
over and against them are crowds of mothers who 
are practically forced to give birth to more babies 
than they can give good bodies to, and many of 
whose poorly pre-natally nourished children perish 
in infancy, or, if they live to grow up, sufFer all 
through what lives they do live because of the poor 
start in life they received from their mother. 

And this means that, with fewer children born, 
and with what are born well cared for, the death- 
rate of infants would be far lower than it has ever 
been; and because of this fact, the danger of "race 
suicide'' would be far from as threatening as some 



250 Children by Chance or by Choice 

who now raise this note of alarm declare it would 
be. Not the quantity of children born, but the 
quality of those who come into this world would 
then be a realizable .mode of human reproduction 
and rearing. 

Again, if the sure control of the begetting of chil- 
dren were placed in the hands of married people, 
it would, at one blow, wipe out the crime of abor- 
tion which is now so rampant in modern civilized 
life. I need not enlarge on this point, for all well- 
posted people know what the situation in this regard 
at present really is. Of course, here is another 
place where statistics not only need not, but cannot 
be brought into evidence. In the very nature of 
things, statistics are not procurable in this life and 
death affair. But, especially if you live in a city, 
and the larger the city, the more frequent the crime, 
you, of your own knowledge, know cases and cases 
where married women who have started on the road 
to motherhood are relieved from the necessity of 
traveling the full length of that way by a means 
which is practically murder. 

Mind, what I am now talking about is really the 
taking of a life which has actually been entered upon, 
and this is a condition of affairs which is wholly 
different from rendering inefficient the elements 
which might cause such life to be begun ! I have re- 
ferred to this before, but I mention it again to em- 
phasize the real difference between the two acts, and 



New Order of Things in Married Life 251 

to show how much more righteous and wholesome 
the one way is than the other. As a rule abortion, 
especially if frequently indulged in, results in the 
ruin of the physical health of the woman upon whom 
it is practiced, and it is as harmful to her mental 
and spiritual being as it is to her more material 
constitution, and besides this, the life of a human 
being has been taken whenever abortion is prac- 
ticed. But with the chief cause of this practice 
eliminated, the abomination itself would perish from 
off the face of the earth. And to have this unspeak- 
able evil thus removed would be an attainment in 
the line of practical virtue which is beyond the 
power of words to describe. 

But, some one may say, if a sure means of birth 
control were actually discovered, and such knowl- 
edge were generally disseminated would not the un- 
married secure such information and practice upon 
it ; and, in this way, might not all sorts of licen- 
tiousness outside of wedlock become current? In 
reply to this I can only say, that what I am writing, 
so far in this treatise, deals only with married peo- 
ple; and what might happen outside that relation 
is not within the compass of the present discussion, 
surely not at this point of the argument. All the 
good things in this world are liable to abuse; but 
we cannot act on the principle that, because a good 
thing may possibly be abused, therefore it must never 
have a being, or must be abolished if it come into 



252 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

existence! The current of electricity which lights 
the lamp by which I can see to write these words 
would kill me if it passed through my body; but 
means are provided by which it can pass through 
the incandescent bulb and give me needed light, while 
I sit by, not only unharmed, but benefited by its 
beneficent rays. The comparison between this il- 
lustration and the supposition just suggested is too 
obvious to need further consideration, though I may 
refer to it again, later on. 

Another result that would come from the estab- 
lishment of the possibility of certain birth control 
on the part of husbands and wives, would be the 
marriage of multitudes of people who now remain 
single because they are unwilling to enter upon a 
condition of living where there is a constant possi- 
bility of parenthood. Under present economic con- 
ditions, there are millions of young people who are 
so conditioned financially, that they dare not assume 
the responsibilities and burdens which necessarily 
come to fathers and mothers. These bear no chil- 
dren now, and even if they married and were child- 
less, conditions would be no worse than they now 
are, so far as the danger of race suicide is con- 
cerned, or as the lack of increase in population is 
involved! The only difference between the two sit- 
uations would be that, if these people could marry, 
and so have the legal right to give mutual expres- 
sion to the affectional side of their sex-natures, to 



New Order of Things m Married Life 253 

that part of their being which is so great an element 
in the plus of humanity, they would be far better 
conditioned than they now are, when they are com- 
pelled to attempt to wholly inhibit this part of their 
God-bestowed faculties; or else, if they give the 
same expression at all, they are forced to do so clan- 
destinely or under the most unwholesome of circum- 
stances! And can there be any doubt as to which 
of these two ways is the better? 

I wish I had space, just here, to make an exhaus- 
tive statement of how it has come about that it is 
currently taught that it is wrong to give expression 
to the afFectional element in human sex-nature un- 
less the same ultimates in reproduction. It is a 
long story, far too long to be told in its entirety 
in a book of the size of the one I am now writing. 
But the chief reasons why these things are as they 
now are may be briefly stated, as follows: The 
first of these is summed up in the word asceticism, 
a theory of life which makes wrong anything and 
everything which human beings really enjoy or de- 
light in. And the second is, the analogy that is 
drawn between mankind and the animals below this 
highest form of life expression. The ascetics, both 
men and women, for some reason, came to be ac- 
counted as "holy" human beings, far better than the 
rest of mankind; and, as such, they were held up 
as examples to be imitated and emulated. And be- 
cause the chief article in their creed has always been 



S54 Children by Chance or by Choice 

to "mortify the flesh,'* and the sex part of man's 
being was counted by them as the most fleshly of all 
their make-up, for this reason they claimed to 
totally inhibit this part of their being and live ab- 
solutely continent lives. However, as it was neces- 
sary to have somebody to provide food and drink 
for these sanctified ones, they consented to the ex- 
ercise of the sex faculty, on the part of others, for 
reproductive purposes, but for that alone, and all 
else was sin ! So much for that phase of the situa- 
tion. And as for the animal analogy, it was claimed 
that the animals never indulged in affectional sex- 
expression; and, man being an animal, he should 
abide by the same law, and live life through in like 
manner as did these lower forms of vital existence. 
And that is the next chapter in the long story of 
how a natural and wholesome part of the Plus of 
Humanity was inhibited, became anathema [ I have 
said all this before, but it needs saying more than 
once, hence this repeat. 

Added to all this was a rank form of jealousy 
which had its roots in supreme selfishness, the de- 
tails of which are too subtle to be considered here. 
But the greatest error of all came from failing to 
recognize the existence of the Plus of Humanity as 
the chief factor in the make-up of mankind as such, 
and of not realizing that aff'ectional sex-expression 
is as rightful a part of such quality as is cooked 
food for the palate and stomach, or reading for the 



New Order of Things in Married Life 255 

eyes, or music for the ears of man! For all these 
reasons, sex-functioning, for other than reproduc- 
tive purposes, came to be considered as wrong; and 
by the same token, it is still thought of as wrong 
by vast numbers of people who, while holding to 
this theory, practice the very reverse of what they 
claim to believe ! The pity of it ! 

But I hope I have shown in the earlier chapters 
of this book, that affectional sex-expression is not 
only a rightful form of marital experience, but that 
it is a manner of living which is productive of the 
highest and best, physically, mentally and spirit- 
ually, that husbands and wives can possibly at- 
tain to. 

Under these circumstances, what could be better 
than to give to all people who are eligible to married 
life such knowledge as would enable them to live 
wholesome and healthful lives in this part of their 
being, even if their circumstances were such that, 
for good and sufficient reasons, it was not best that 
they should bring children into the world? Surely, 
it is something greatly to be desired that all married 
people who are properly circumstanced to rear a 
family should do so ; but to totally deprive such as 
are not so conditioned of all the other joys of mar- 
ried life is to do a wicked thing, and to set up an 
abnormal condition of affairs which results in a host 
of the most pronounced evils. 

And this leads to the remark that such enabling 



256 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

people to marry even if they did not have children 
would practically destroy prostitution as it now 
exists ! This vice of vices, which has existed 
throughout all the ages, in spite of all efforts to ex- 
terminate it, and which has been the cause of unut- 
terable woe and misery, and disease and death, to 
millions of human beings of both sexes, exists, al- 
most entirely, because of the abnormal marital con- 
ditions which are forced upon the human race which 
practically keep great multitudes of people from 
living normal sex lives. If the item of certain birth 
control were within the possession of all husbands 
and wives, not only would there be millions more 
of husbands and wives than there now are, but the 
great majority of these would live lives of such 
mutual agreement that commercial sex exploitation 
would be largely, if not wholly, extirpated from 
civilized life ! 

And with the passing of this abomination of com- 
mercial sex-indulgence, there would also go a horde 
of sex-abnormalities which now exist among human 
beings of both sexes, and which come, chiefly, from 
the fact that those who practice these forms of sex- 
expression are deprived of a wholesome exercise of 
what is really a basic element of normal human na- 
ture. For the most part, in days gone by and up 
to the present time, the treatment of all these erran- 
cies from the ways of right sex-living, has been 
chiefly in the line of attempted suppression of the 



New Order of Things in Married Life 257 

sex-impulse altogether, or of such negative dealing 
with them as tended rather to the intensifying than 
the remedying of the evils they were set to elimi- 
nate. But gradually wise and well-posted men and 
women are coming to see that an undue suppression 
of a natural impulse tends fully as much, and some- 
times more, toward producing unwholesome results 
than does even excess of functioning on the part of 
the organs whose action it is attempted to inhibit! 
What needs to be done, in all these cases, is to find 
out what is really a righteous manner of expression 
for all the organs of the human body, with the fac- 
tors of the Plus of Humanity constantly in evi- 
dence, and then to establish such conditions that 
all men and women can live in harmony with the 
same. And the doctrine of "don't," and a nega- 
tive policy in these premises, will never produce 
these greatly-to-be-desired results. Such will only 
arrive as the outcome of the most intense scientific 
investigation, long pursued and most eagerly and 
intelligently sought for, and which knowledge, once 
attained, shall be universally disseminated among 
all the sons and daughters of men, and righteously 
utilized by them! Such attainment cannot be eas- 
ily reached, nor will it be speedy in its coming; but 
that it will some day be a reality is as certain as 
the progress of the race is sure. 

Another, and a similar, gain in this direction will 
be that this new order of marital living will make it 



258 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

possible for persons who never ought to bring chil- 
dren into the world, to marry, and to live normal 
sex-lives on the afFectional side of their being. This 
would include all those who are the victims of 
hereditary taints which ought not to be transmitted 
to future generations. There are many such men 
and women, and it is not now infrequent that these 
marry and, by chance, have children who ought never 
to have been born, who suffer all their lives because 
of the sins of their ancestors and who eventually 
fill untimely graves. None of these happenings need 
be, under the order of things I have outlined, and 
with the item of birth control fully mastered by 
these married, but never-ought-to-be parents. And 
that would be a great step forward, for the well- 
being of the oncoming generations. 

In all that I have said on this point, I have made 
no mention of the pronounced abnormally-sexed hu- 
man beings who sometimes appear in this world ; nor 
is there need that I do so. The normal life of nor- 
mal men and women is not to be determined, or 
gauged, or limited, or exploited, one way or another, 
because of the abnormal specimens of the human 
species which now and then appear upon the face 
of the earth. It is enough that it be determined 
what is right and wholesome for those who are at 
least somewhere near an average standard of hu- 
man beings, and to make it possible for them to live 
as their best interests, physical, mental and spiritual 



New Order of Things in Married Life 259 

demand that they should live. To such a realiza- 
tion the desires of all sane men and women hopefully 
go out, their imaginations picture for them what 
life would be under such righteous conditions, and 
it only remains for the ingenuity of inspired souls, 
lighted by wisdom from on high, to discover and to 
disseminate a knowledge which will bring about such 
now merely ideal results. 



CHAPTER XIII 

OBJECTORS AND OBJECTIONS, AND SOME ANSWERS TO 
BOTH 

There are three classes of people who have al- 
ways been objectors to any form of birth control, 
and who have always opposed any measures which 
would enable parents to have children by choice 
rather than by chance. These are, first, the war 
leaders; second, the church leaders; and, third, the 
leaders in the commercial world who have wanted 
cheap labor. There are reasons why these people 
have thought and done as they have, and it will be 
well to study these somewhat in detail, in the order 
in which they have arisen, and find out the motives 
upon which their beliefs and their acts have been 
based. 

In doing this, it is but fair to say that the pres- 
ence of such people in the world is not at all un- 
natural, nor are the things they have done to be 
wondered at, when all the facts are taken into 
account. Indeed, most of the things in this world 
that are at first called unnatural may more truth- 
fully be called perfectly natural when the whole story 

260 



Objectors and Objections 261 

of their existence is known. As Mr. Charks Dickens 
remarks: "It might be well to stop, now and then, 
and consider if, in many cases, it is not natural to be 
unnatural!" Many of man^s acts, when squared by 
the rules of righteousness, are most unnatural; but 
when measured by the causes which have produced 
them, they are as natural as that water should run 
down hill ! They couldn't help being what they are, 
the source of their origin being what it was. 

According to this principle, it was, first, perfectly 
natural that there should be war leaders among all 
the primitive peoples of the earth. This condition 
began in the earliest history of the race, or just as 
soon as races of men began to be. Just as soon as 
families began to group themselves into tribes, and 
tribes began to have interests which were hostile, one 
to another; and just so soon as they began to main- 
tain their interests, which they usually called their 
rights, against those who would deprive them of the 
same, just so soon war came into being, and with its 
advent came the leaders and conductors of human 
strife. And because, in all the earlier wars in which 
mankind engaged, the probabilities of victory were 
always in favor of those who had the greatest number 
of warriors in the field, for this reason the war 
leaders of those days were always anxious to have 
as many fighting men as possible subject to their call 
and command. 

And so it was perfectly natural that all these most 



^62 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

prominent men, in every tribe, should be ambitious to 
have as many prospective warriors as possible born, 
in order that their armies might be continually well 
supplied with fighting material. And because female 
human beings were needful in order that male human 
beings might be born, for this reason the war lords 
tolerated the birth of girl babies, and took care that 
they should be made fit to breed at as early a period 
in life as possible, and kept breeding to the limit of 
their possibilities. For these reasons they used every 
means within their power to keep the birth rate as 
high as possible, and they opposed any and all 
means or measures which would lower, or which 
threatened to lower the same. That is the early 
history of the opposition to birth control on the part 
of the war chiefs, or leaders, in those far days. 

And what thus came into being and was thor- 
oughly established among the tribes of earth grew to 
more and more as these tribes were grouped into com- 
munities, and communities into states, and states 
into nations. In all these social aggregations, the 
fundamental principle of those getting together was 
"us and ours" ; and to make such a combination that 
what they ha3 could not be taken from them, while 
they were able to take from those who were weaker 
than they were, anything that they happened to 
want. To do these things required armies, and 
armies were composed of men. And the larger the 
social aggregation, the bigger the state or the nation, 



Objectors and Objections 263 

the larger the army which was required to maintain 
the same. And as soldiers could only be made out of 
"boys grown tall," the one chief desire of those who 
commanded soldiers was to have as many small boys 
born as possible, out of which to make tall boys in 
due course of time. To secure such results, these 
military leaders in all nations, in all times, have done 
all in their power to stimulate in every possible way 
the rapid reproduction of the human species through- 
out all the realms in which their influence could be 
exercised or felt. 

This they have done both positively and negatively. 
They have made marriage easy and divorce hard, 
and they have always appealed to the pride and 
the alleged patriotism of their constituents in the 
matter of bringing children into the world. To such 
extent have these leaders carried this militaristic 
idea into the item of reproduction, that, everywhere, 
mothers, even to this day, are prouder to bear boy 
babies than they are to bring girl babies into the 
world, and even in the Bible it is written: "She no 
longer remembereth her sorrow, for joy that a man 
child is bom.'* No other single fact could show how 
deep-seated an influence militarism has succeeded in 
imposing upon all classes of human beings as does 
this one which I have here referred to. (It is curious 
the ways in which many of the things in which we 
take so much pride, really came into being!) 

Added to this, these same military leaders have 



264 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

appealed to the vanity and love of show of parents 
of both sexes, by surrounding themselves and their 
troops with all the trappings and the suits of pomp 
and circumstance. Dazzling paraphernalia, shining 
helmets and swords and glittering arms of all sorts 
are in evidence wherever soldiers are. Medals of 
honor gleam on stalwart breasts, and flags and 
banners gay are flung to every breeze on land and 
sea when men in arms appear. And stirring music 
sounds, and drums are beaten and bugles blown till 
the blood of all who hear fairly leaps in their veins ! 

And the fathers and mothers of those men in arms 
look with pride upon their sons in the ranks, and 
rejoice that they have been instrumental in providing 
the essentials of these serried columns ! 'Tis they 
who have borne these lusty lads who go forth under 
mighty leaders to fight for country, home and God ! 
And, being thus appealed to, these husbands and 
wives of the rank and file delight to bring male chil- 
dren into the world, the more the better; and they 
will also be resigned when female children are born 
to them, because these may be the means of more 
male children being born, in due course of time. 

Such is the positive part of what militarism has 
done to insure the constant filling up of their needed 
ranks ; and, negatively, the same men who foster and 
keep alive these propaganda most strenuously oppose 
any and every means or method which would tend to 
reduce the birth rate, especially among the rank and 



Objectors and Objections 265 

file. The consequence is that, being thus antagonized 
by the most powerful and influential men in all 
countries, in all times, the science of bringing children 
into this world by the deliberate choice of their 
parents has been so handicapped that it has never 
been even carefully studied, and much less have 
attempts been made to put into practice what little 
has been discovered and become known on the subject. 
There has been no stimulus toward investigation in 
this field of possible scientific discovery, and laws 
have been made to prohibit the dissemination of 
whatever knowledge on this subject any one might 
possess. Such is at least a part of the record of 
what militarism has done in the line of keeping the 
long-established reproductive situation in the human 
family what it has been and now is. 

Nor should militarism be too much blamed for its 
acts in the past or present. Things being as they 
are, this factor in social life could scarcely do other- 
wise than as has been done ! So long as force of arms 
remains the chief, if not the sole means of main- 
taining national supremacy, or existence, even, such 
resource must be exploited, at least to the limit which 
necessity requires. And so, both the logic of the 
situation and the demands of the same, have practi- 
cally compelled these things to be as they have been 
and are ; and so long as these remain as they always 
have been, and are, just so long will the military 
factor of the state or nation have to stand opposed 



^66 Children by Chance or by Choice 

to any means or methods which would reduce the 
supply of soldiers to carry out their commands. With 
this point so far demonstrated, let it rest thus for 
the present. 

The second group of opponents to child begetting 
and birth by choice rather than by chance, is, and 
long has been, composed of church leaders, who have 
been as powerful, in their way, in their hostility to 
the introduction of this principle and practice as 
have been the military leaders already referred to. 
And the opposition which these have offered has been 
intrenched on practically the same grounds which 
militarism has based its hostility upon. The church 
has needed followers and supporters as the army 
has needed soldiers. These, not to fight or shed 
blood, but to furnish the needed wherewithal to 
exploit and maintain the institutions of which church 
leaders were at the head. 

And this also is natural! Religion is a normal 
part of the human make-up, and to organize and 
maintain religious institutions is a legitimate part of 
social life. But here, as well as in some other prac- 
tices of gregarious life, it might be truthfully writ- 
ten : "The zeal of thine house hath eaten thee up !" 
And so it came about that, in many cases, church 
leaders came to feel that they and their work and 
their institutions were the most important affairs in 
all the world, and that they should, all of them, be 
set up and cared for accordingly. And to care for 



Objectors and Objections 267 

and support the religious leaders that came to be, 
and the institutions they established, soon required 
great sums of money for their carrying-on, and to 
raise and keep on raising great sums of money for 
this purpose, required great numbers of men and 
women to do what was counted as needful to be done. 
And so these leaders were anxious for large follow- 
ings, and large followings meant large families, and 
there we are again ! 

To be sure, these advocates of the largest possible 
number of births in all families were not as anxious 
about the sex of those born as were the military 
leaders. They could utilize women as well as men 
in their work, sometimes better. But they all wanted 
plenty of children of both sexes in their flocks, and 
they proceeded to do all in their power to produce 
such results. 

Their method of procedure in the premises was 
quite different from that of the militarists; it was 
much more subtle and gripping, as it were, and it all 
came to the same in the long run. They did not 
appeal so much to the natural selfishness which was 
inherent in the make-up of their followers, but they 
exploited the reproductive element of their constitu- 
ents in another and a more effective way. They made 
marriage a most sacred, rather than a merely legal 
or civil institution; and they introduced the idea 
that, once solemnized, its permanence was to be 
measured not pnly by time, but by all eternity! 



S68 Children by Chance or by Choice 

Under these conditions, marriage once entered upon 
could never be escaped from, and hence all its hard- 
ships had to be endured, all its wrongs put up with, 
and all the time the chance of bringing children into 
the world was continually in evidence. Added to all 
this, these leaders of the religious element in their 
followers taught that to use any means to prevent 
conception was a crime because the germs, whose 
union would result in pregnancy, were alive, and to 
render them ineffective was nothing less than murder, 
and the punishment of murder was endless suffering 
in a lake of fire and brimstone ! 

It is not pleasant to write these things, but that 
what I have stated is only the plain truth is a matter 
of common knowledge among all well-posted people. 
And that this pressure was put upon millions of 
people for many, many years, is a matter of history 
which all who will do so may read. And it is further 
true that the same practically compulsory force is 
still exercised in many quarters, even to this day, 
and with the same results that it has always 
produced. 

Nor need harsh words be used in condemning those 
who inaugurated and made efficient the means and 
methods which have just been noted for securing the 
birth of great numbers of children. The men and 
women who expolited these ways and means also 
acted naturally, all things being taken into their 
account. They were ostensibly not selfish in doing 



Objectors and Objections 269 

as they di3; surely not so, as they translated and 
gave reasons for their doings. On the contrary, as 
they interpreted their deeds, they were all of the 
highest nature, not only for the well-being of their 
flocks while they lived in this world, but for their 
certain happiness and delectation in a world yet 
to come. 

Nor need the honesty of these church leaders be 
impugned, at least that of the great majority of 
them. They may not have been right in their beliefs 
and teachings on these points, but, even so, that they 
were sincere in their errors it is at least charitable 
to hold. 

And the results of these teachings regarding birth 
control have been inestimable ! It is only a very few 
days since I heard a woman who is a disciple of such 
leadership say, to a large number of women who 
came to hear her talk : "It is the duty of every wife 
to bear as many children as possible. We can never 
have too many babies born. My grandfather had 
twenty-four, and that was none too many !" She did 
not say how many wives the old gentleman had to 
bear these double dozen of progeny, but from her 
zeal in saying what she did, it seemed to me she 
would have fully indorsed the teaching of the old 
worthy who is reported to have said: "If a woman 
die from child-bearing, let her go to it. It is for such 
purpose she was born, and she has no cause to com- 
plain if it requires her life to fulfill her duty!'* But 



270 Children by Chance or by Choice 

let us not too much blame even those who would 
carry their philosophy and their theories to such 
extremes. Theirs is only another instance of zeal 
which has eaten up its devotees. 

And it is only just to give these credit for all the 
good they have done, as well as to charge to their 
account the wrongs and evils they have inflicted upon 
mankind by their teachings and their deeds. The 
wonderful temples they have caused to be built, the 
hospitals they have been instrumental in establish- 
ing, and the institutions of learning they have set up, 
all these have been worthful, for the most part, and 
they should be so reckoned. It has needed money, 
plenty of it, and always more, to do these things. 
And, as the economical world has always been, it has 
always required an unlimited number of common, 
every-day workers, to produce the money needed to 
exploit all these institutions which the church has, 
so far, been the chief factor in originating and 
carrying on. Hence, honor to whom honor is due. 
However, nothing is permanent in this world, and 
progress is the law of all life ; and it is worth while 
to consider the former and the present conditions 
just referred to, and to ask if what has always been 
in these particulars must always be, or if there are 
better things in store in these • matters in the days 
that are before us. And this we will do, later on. 
Meantime, it is only fair to note the fact that, up to 
date, the great church leaders have been objectors to 



Objectors and Objections 271 

the principle and practice of birth control, and have 
always favored the method of bringing children into 
this world by chance rather than by choice. It 
should be remembered too, what a tremendous influ- 
ence the church has had in these matters. The 
religious nature is one of the strongest in all the 
furnishings that humanity possesses, and a strong 
appeal to this part of man's being is most potent in 
the results it produces. So the fact stands that the 
church leaders have had a very great influence in 
preventing the reproduction of the human species 
by choice rather than by chance. And that point 
is all that need be made at this stage of the argument. 

The third class of objectors to any restrictions 
being placed upon the reproduction of the human 
species, has long been composed of the exploiters of 
human labor. In the nature of things, these objec- 
tors come last in the series I have mentioned, from 
the fact that the necessity of war began as far back 
as the tribal life of mankind, and the religious ele- 
ment in man appeared very early in the history of 
the race. But when social life became so far devel- 
oped that it became possible to concentrate labor, 
for various purposes, then came the desire to have 
an ample supply of this commodity; and hence to 
have the birth of children as numerous as possible. 

This utilization of the labor of others than one's 
self took two forms; first, that of human slavery, 
and, second, of work for wages ; but, in both cases, it 



S7S Children hy Chance or by Choice 

was for the interests of the exploiters of labor to 
have a plentiful supply of those who worked under 
their direction or dictation. In the first case, the 
more hands the lighter the work ; and in the second, 
the more applicants for a job the smaller the wages 
they would be willing to accept for their work. And 
so, the real reason why this class of objectors did as 
they did, was virtually the same as that of their two 
predecessors. They all wanted a multitude of men 
and women to serve their own particular needs, and* 
to keep the stream of such always bank-full they all 
opposed any limitation to the springs from which a 
bounteous supply of the material they wanted flowed. 
The means which this third class has always used 
for securing its ends has always been largely of the 
legislative sort. They have made laws which tended 
to stimulate reproduction or to prevent anything like 
the exercise of the will on the part of the parents in 
the matter of bringing children into the world. That 
is, they have tried to keep the breeding of human 
beings as near the line of mere animality as possible. 
They have endeavored to have men and women pro- 
duce progeny on a par with the rest of animal life. 
They have held that the sole purpose of sex in human 
beings was for reproductive purposes, and they have 
always strongly inveighed against any "meddling 
with Nature's ways." They have held that "instinct" 
was a safe and sane guide in all these aff^airs, and 



Objectors and Objections 273 

they have always said : "Let them alone. They will 
find the way !" 

As a matter of fact, what this class of objectors 
has done in this field of human affairs, far surpasses 
in wrongness and evil results the things that the two 
other factors I have mentioned have been responsible 
for. I need not go into details, but the breeders of 
slaves for commercial purposes, and the exploiters of 
the poverty-stricken for the sake of gain, have 
always been of this class. The horrors which both of 
these have enacted are too awful to tell. And all 
the evil they have done has been by way of keeping 
children from being born by choice, and to perpetu- 
ate chance as a factor in reproduction, ever and 
always. 

And there is one item in which all three of these 
objectors and opposers of birth control have always 
been a unit, namely, they have never had any idea of 
The Plus of Humanity, especially as this prime 
factor in the make-up of mankind should be taken 
into account in the matter of human sex-functioning. 
They have all reckoned it as a quality which was 
chiefly, if not wholly animal, and have always treated 
it as such. 

And, indeed, there are those who have claimed to 
come up into a higher realm in the study and exploit- 
ation of this part of human life, namely, certain 
theorists regarding eugenics, who have really done 



274 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

not much better in their philosophies than have these 
three classes of objectors I have just pointed out. 
For they have based nearly all of their theories upon 
results that have been obtained exclusively from the 
breeding of mere animals. Some of these have ranked 
high in scientific esteem, and they have been widely 
quoted with approval by leaders in whom the rank 
and file have had the greatest confidence. And yet, 
I do not know of even one of these who has taken the 
Plus of Humanity into account in his reckoning! 
They breed rabbits and Guinea pigs and pigeons, and 
from the results thus obtained, they deduce laws 
which they claim should obtain in the perpetuation 
of the human species. But never a word have they 
set down regarding the affectional expression of the 
sex-impulse in mankind, nor have they suggested any 
method of procedure on the part of husbands and 
wives, so far as reproduction is concerned, which 
was above that of the brutes upon which they experi- 
mented. For this cause, little real knowledge has so 
far been gained from scientific circles regarding this 
subject which is of such vital importance in the 
upbuilding and progress of the human race, in its 
highest and best estate. And so, as a matter of fact, 
even these advocates of what they claim would be a 
better order of things, for the human race, really 
treat the whole subject on so low and material a 
plane that little if any good has, or can, result from 
what they have done or what they propose. What is 



Objectors and OhjectioTis 275 

needed in this whole affair is to give it a mental and 
spiritual standing in which the principle of the Plus 
of Humanity shall be recognized as the chief element 
to be considered in securing results that shall be 
really worth while. 

And the reason for this is, as all know who have 
studied this subject by taking all the factors into 
account, that the breeding of mere animals is one 
thing, and the bringing of human beings into this 
world is quite another thing! The Patriarch Jacob 
may have secured the finest of Laban's herds for 
himself by having the strongest cattle copulate with 
the bright rods before their eyes at the moment of 
conception, with the result that the calves born 
from such unions were ring-streaked and striped; 
but no such definite results have ever followed from 
any conceptional environment in the case of human 
beings. Mere animals have no "Plus" in their make- 
up ; and the fact is that the "Plus" which humanity 
possesses in its own right, and as its distinctive 
quality among all life-forms — that it is this which 
has more to do with reproductive results in the 
human species than have all the material elements in 
the problem combined. And that is something to 
think about, and what I am trying to bring to the 
fore in what I am writing. It is also the reason 
why the objectors to birth control, and the advocates 
of eugenics who treat the subject on a mere material 
plane, both need to mend their ways by taking into 



276 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

their reckoning this greatest of all items in the 
matter of righteous sex-functioning of human beings. 

So much regarding the objectors and the objec- 
tions to the proposition to make the bringing of chil- 
dren into this world a matter of choice rather than of 
chance. It remains to make answer to these, which 
let us here undertake to do as follows : 

The common element in all opponents to the 
proposition is, that such order of things undoubtedly 
would reduce the number of children born, and that 
this would be a calamity to the world, especially to 
their part in it. The military leaders claim that 
their need of soldiers would be impossible of supply ; 
the church leaders declare that their source of sup- 
port would be greatly lessened, and the employers of 
labor insist that if the number of their possible em- 
ployees be reduced wages will rise, and this they look 
upon as a condition to be avoided if possible. Let 
us look at these claims, one by one, and see how well 
founded they are, when all the facts are taken into 
account. 

In the first place, it is by no means certain, as I 
have already suggested, that the total population of 
any particular country or countries, or of the world 
as a whole, would necessarily be greatly lowered 
under the method of sex-living proposed. It might 
be, or it might not be ; and to have a choice between 
these two conditions would be an attainment in 
human social affairs of no small moment ! The item 



Objectors and Ohjections 277 

in the count which would make any great decrease in 
the total of population possibly improbable is the 
fact that, with the birth rate lowered, the death rate 
of such children as were born would be greatly les- 
sened, so that the total survivors left to grow to 
maturity might thus possible/ be as great as under 
present conditions, where millions of chance-born 
children now die annually, both because they are so 
numerous that they cannot receive from their over- 
productive mothers the prenatal vitality which they 
needed to enable them to reach adult life, or because 
they were so poorly nourished in their childhood, 
because of the poverty of their parents that they 
perished from lack of such nutrition as their main- 
tenance in life demanded they should have at this 
period of their existence. In other words, it is but 
good common sense to believe that, with fewer chil- 
dren born, the probabilities of survival for those who 
were born would be greatly increased, and so the 
total reaching maturity might not be lessened in the 
long run. Or to say it still another way, an improve- 
ment in the quality of the children that were born by 
choice, would make up for the lessening of the quan- 
tity bom by chance. This also would seem to be good 
common sense. 

But, granting for the sake of the argument that 
there would be a falling off of adult population as 
compared with the past and present ratio of increase, 
if the birth rate were lowered by having children 



278 Children by Chance or by Choice 

born by choice rather than by chance, this can be 
truthfully said of such a condition, namely, that, for 
all of these objectors, there is no longer the need that 
there once was that they be as bountifully supplied 
with human beings with which to advance or protect 
their interests as there once was, indeed, as there has 
always been up to the present time! Let us see how 
this is. 

Take the military situation first. At first thought 
it would seem that the change that has so recently 
come to the whole world in this regard was unique 
to a degree that could not be equaled. Yet, such is 
not the case, as we shall soon see. But consider the 
military status of the nations of the earth, as it 
exists today, and as it was before the great world 
war which has just closed. Only a few short years 
ago, practically all these nations stood hostilely 
armed against each other. Virtually there was a 
chip on the shoulder of every one of them. Some of 
the chips were larger than others, but in all cases, 
a chip of some size was there. Under these condi- 
tions, in every case, that chip had to be looked after, 
and it could be looked after in only one way, and 
that was at the point of a bayonet or the mouth of a 
cannon. And it takes soldiers to wield bayonets and 
to fire cannon. And so all the nations in all the earth 
were compelled to maintain an army at least of such 
size as they deemed was necessary to protect their 
own particular chip. And there you are. The result 



Objectors and Objections 279 

of this was that the whole world was practically an 
armed camp, equipped or ready to be equipped, fight- 
ing or easily made ready to fight. And all the world 
knows the rest of the story. 

Under these universal conditions there was only 
one way to maintain the interests of any nation, and 
that was by having a large number of soldiers, real 
or prospective, ready to do battle as needs required. 
And to have such supply of soldiers meant a constant 
and ample supply of boy babies bom in every nation 
on earth. These facts are so trite that there is scarce 
need of recounting them. We all know how these 
things were. 

But now! Why, now, the probabilities are many 
to one that all these things will be different, hence- 
forth, and forever ! As I write, the details for a world 
peace have not been fully formulated, but that some 
arrangements will be made which will result in such 
a condition — of this there can be small doubt in the 
eternal order of things. I know there are still some 
doubting souls who cannot believe that this assump- 
tion is warranted, but the like has always been when- 
ever progress in any line of life has been made in this 
old world of ours. There were those who would not 
believe that the earth was round though the fact was 
proven beyond peradventure. And even I can 
remember when it was publicly denied that it was 
possible for a man to sit in a chair in New York and 
talk to a man equally at ease in San Francisco. And, 



280 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

of course, no one could ever fly ! And to stand on 
the ground and communicate with a man who was 
miles high in the air, surely that could never be 
done ! But it has been done, and it will be done, long 
years after these doubters have gone to their reward ! 
These things are not only here, but they are here to 
stay, and to grow to more and more, by way of per- 
fection, as time goes on. 

And, by the same token, not only has the possi- 
bility of an amicable adjustment of national and 
international affairs of the world without war, come 
to mankind, but once inaugurated it will come to 
stay! 

Need I argue this point further? Surely not here. 
Only let me add that with ten millions of the finest 
young men in all the world dead, and with many 
times that number made cripples for life, to say 
nothing of untold billions of money worse than wasted 
which numberless generations must be taxed to pay — 
take all these things together, the whole world has 
learned the lesson that war is a horror unbearable 
and the people of the world have made up their minds 
that they will have no more of it. And these facts, 
which are patent to all open-minded people, will 
insure the stability of some sort of mutual relation- 
ship between all the nations of the earth, a condition 
which will, in time, bring about the abolition of 
militarism as the chief factor in national life. 

And, with the passing of militarism as a supreme 



Objectors and Objections 281 

factor in national life, there will go the further 
necessity of the maintenance of the armies and navies 
of the world; and that means that the fathers and 
mothers of the world will not longer feel compelled 
to beget and rear as many boys to be used as food 
for cannon as they used to be required to produce 
and care for. And that is at least a partial answer 
to the military objectors to having children born 
by choice rather than by chance. 

Next, take the church contingent, and see what 
the situation is there as regards this issue. And 
here much the same conditions obtain as are found 
in the military part of the social life of mankind. 
Only there is this difference, namely, that, whereas, 
multitudes of soldiers are no longer needed to fight 
the battles of the world, on the part of the church, 
such multitudes of contributors as were once needed 
to further its objects of exploitation are no longer 
required to carry on the work which now falls to its 
lot to perform. A moment's reflection will show how 
this is. 

Up to very modem times, the church, in its various 
forms and denominations, not only looked after the 
salvation of the souls of its membership, but it pro- 
vided for the education of the children of its people, 
and looked after the physical recuperation of the 
sick and afflicted among allits parishioners. That 
is, the various church organizations, all over the 
world, not only built temples of great magnificence 



282 Children by Chance or by Choice 

where their followers might worship, but they also 
established schools and universities, many of them of 
the highest rank and efficiency, wherever they held 
sway, and they maintained hospitals where thousands 
of their afflicted communicants might be cared for 
with the utmost that skill and devotion could com- 
mand. All these items stand to the credit of the 
churches which have promulgated and supported 
them through all the years, and none too high praise 
can be given all of them for their good works on all 
these lines. 

And it has taken the most generous supply and 
expenditure of money to carry on all these helps for 
humanity. And to furnish this money, a great fol- 
lowing of people has been an absolute necessity. As 
before noted, this is one great reason why the church 
leaders have always been so anxious to have as large 
a constituency as possible to fall back upon, and 
upon whom they might limitlessly call for the means 
with which to carry on their most laudable institu- 
tions and undertakings. These are all well-known 
and gladly acknowledged facts by all well-posted 
people. 

But — and here again appear the changed condi- 
tions which have come in modern times, and which 
practically appear today in most, if not all the 
countries in the world where churches are in evidence 
as factors in the social life of the communities in 
which they exist. This changed condition is as 



Objectors and Objections 2SS 

follows, namely, that whereas, under the former 
order, these religious organizations looked after the 
education of the children of their people and cared 
for their sick and afflicted, now, and in recent years, 
the civil institutions which collective mankind have 
set up and which they maintain along all these lines, 
do all this work which churches once did, and so 
have relieved these organizations from the immense 
financial burdens which they once were obliged to 
carry. 

That is, the church leaders no longer need the 
immense sums of money which they were once 
required to have, because others are doing, and doing 
well, the work they were once required to perform. 
And with the passing of this obligation on their part, 
there passes the necessity for the immense following 
which they were once obliged to have. 

Perhaps it should be said that many of these 
religious organizations, out of sheer inertia, still 
maintain their schools and hospitals, but the need 
of their continuing to do so is lessening every day; 
and the time is not far distant when the civil institu- 
tions of the world will take care, and good care, of 
all these needs of their citizens. The public schools, 
colleges and universities will educate all the children 
of all the people, and public hospitals and helpful 
institutions of various kinds, will take care of all 
the sick and afflicted who may need their generous 
and kindly assistance. 



284 Children by Chance or by Choice 

Let nothing that has been said regarding the 
work of religious organizations in the world be 
interpreted a^ even suggesting that their work is 
done, or that they are no longer needed as efficient 
factors for furthering the well-being of mankind. On 
the contrary, their mission in the economy of social 
life is, in some respects, greater than ever. But, as 
in so many other cases which have come in the 
reorganization of gregarious life, their part in the 
programme has been intensified rather than enlarged, 
and it is now their lot to minister to the spiritual, 
rather than to the material needs of their followers. 
And all the signs of the times indicate that they will 
do this better than ever before. The point in what 
I have to say is, as I have already suggested, that, to 
meet such spiritual needs, they will not require the 
vast sums of money they have heretofore been obliged 
to have, and so will not suffer even if the number of 
their constituents is comparatively lessened. 

And so it will fall out in due time that the church 
leaders also can cease their opposition to having chil- 
dren born by choice and consent to their coming into 
being only by choice, as their parents want them, and 
are able to provide for them as children ought to be 
provided for. 

And as for the employers of labor, their case is 
more easily righteously disposed of than that of 
either the military or the church leaders. This, 
because of the fact that machinery now does the 



Objectors and Objections 285 

great bulk of the work of the world which was once 
done by hand, and hence there is no longer need that 
there be so many hands as once were required to do 
the work that must be done. As I shall have to con- 
sider this factor of social life at greater length in a 
following chapter, I leave it here with this partial 
statement of the main facts in the situation, as they 
pertain to this part of the subject. 

And so it turns out that, even if the bringing of 
children into this world by choice rather than by 
chance should lower the rate of increase of adult 
population in the world, such a result would not be 
detrimental to the race as a whole, things being as 
they are. But more of this further on in my 
argument. 



CHAPTER XIV 

WHEN SHALIi THESE THINGS BE? 

It is a number of years since I first entertained tht 
idea of choice rather than chance becoming a recog- 
nized principle in the reproduction of the human race, 
and began to plan the writing of such a book as I am 
now writing; but it was not till a few months ago 
that I felt warranted in really undertaking the task 
which I am now working out. The reason of this will 
occur to the reader on a moment's reflection, as 
follows : 

So long as militarism was and continued to be the 
chief factor in the policies and practices of all the 
nations of the earth, it would be impossible for such 
a plan as I have proposed to be carried out, even to 
a limited degree. Because, under these conditions, 
as I have already shown, necessity required that 
every nation should have at its call and command as 
large a number of soldiers as possible, and if any 
nation, or nations, failed to maintain such military 
resources, while other nations continued to produce 
the same, it would be but a matter of time until those 
which had the most numerous armies could, and 

286 



When Shall These Things Be? 287 

would, conquer and subjugate those which were not 
their numerical equals. 

As a matter of fact, France stood as an ever pres- 
ent example of a nation open to such danger, and it 
is a matter of history that she came very near suffer- 
ing overwhelming defeat for this cause. As a nation, 
the French people have perhaps come nearer practic- 
ing birth control, that is, having children by choice 
rather than by chance, than any other people in all 
the world. Under these conditions, at one time the 
birth rate in that country fell so low that it became 
a cause of genuine alarm to those who had the wel- 
fare of the nation at heart ; nor was such fear by any 
means unwarranted. With all the other nations 
about her breeding children by chance, and so in 
limitless supply, while she produced children in only 
limited numbers, as her fathers and mothers chose to 
do under such circumstances, it was mathematically 
certain what the outcome of such order of things 
would ultimately be. It was in view of this situation 
that the ruling powers in France appealed to their 
constituents, in many ways, and stimulated parents 
to be as prolific as possible, and so help avert the 
possible calamity of national destruction. And it is 
a note-worthy fact that such appeal brought results ! 
Note that fact for further reference. 

And so it was that I saw in the case of France an 
example which demonstrated the impossibility of any 
one nation, or of a few nations, espousing and acting 



S88 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

upon the principle of birth by choice^ while all the 
rest of the nations kept on breeding by chance. And 
so long as this condition of affairs lasted, I realized 
the futility of even suggesting what I have advocated 
in this book. 

But now, all this is bound to be different! The 
world-war has brought a change in human affairs 
which will not only make it possible to propose birth 
control as an efficient factor in social life, but it has 
really precipitated a condition in national existence 
in which the adoption and practice of such method of 
populating the earth in the coming years will be not 
only a workable proposition, but an absolute neces- 
sity, as I shall soon show! 

As to the first point, the situation of all the differ- 
ent peoples of the earth is now such as to make the 
practice of birth control possible, provided the means 
for so doing are definitely found out and then made 
available for all the fathers and mothers of the 
world ! For now, since the military factor of social 
life is no longer to be in evidence as the chief element 
of national existence, it follows that any and all 
nations are at liberty to abandon the chief source 
of supply upon which militarism has always relied 
to give it prestige. 

Of course, such change will not come all at once, 
or suddenly, to any nation, much less to all nations ; 
but, the science of human reproduction, on a basis of 
choice rather than chance once discovered, and its 



When Shall These Things Be? 289 

practice actually inaugurated, its spread will be 
assured in due time, all over the whole earth. This 
cannot be otherwise, for the advantages to be thus 
obtained, to all parties concerned, are so many and 
so great that, once realized, they will be universally 
adopted, as fast as they can become known. 

Never before in the history of the world has such 
an attainment as this been possible ; but it is possible 
now, and because it is possible, and because the 
results it would bring about are so desirable, and in 
time will become so necessary, the establishment of 
such order of living for the whole human race is as 
sure to be realized as is any other good thing which 
has come about in the line of the progress of man- 
kind. For such is the natural and eternal order 
of things. 

All of which means that, the establishment of these 
conditions will sometime become, not only a national, 
but an international affair. And, more than this, it 
will apply alike to all classes of people, rich and 
poor, high and low, or what you will. In this respect 
it will be like the dissemination of learning which is 
now becoming so wide-spread, and which will some- 
time be universal. Time was when the acquirement 
of an education was confined to a select few; and 
there have been many nations where even to teach a 
child to read, outside certain select circles, would 
subject the teacher to punishment, sometimes of the 
severest sort. But such conditions have passed, never 



290 Children by Chance or by Choice 

to return, so far as education is concerned. Even 
so, up to date, the meager knowledge of birth control 
which the wisest have so far discovered has been 
confined to a certain few who have had the money to 
clandestinely obtain such knowledge as has been 
found out, or the power to defy the laws which have 
prevented a dissemination of what is known in these 
regards. 

(It is on such facts, namely, what the few who had 
knowledge have done, that the principle has been 
announced that the higher the type of human beings, 
the less these would reproduce. And from such 
alleged logical position it has been reasoned that 
there would never be any danger of over-populating 
the world, etc. The fallacy of this argument lies in 
the false basis upon which it rests. It is not so 
much the inability to bear children upon the part of 
those who are so nearly childless, as it is their being 
able to avail themselves of such knowledge and prac- 
tices as result in limiting the number of their prog- 
eny. But more of this later. ) 

But, under an order of things in which positive 
scientific knowledge regarding birth control is an 
actual human possession, and, as such, can be uni- 
versally disseminated, the item of bringing children 
into this world will then be a matter of choice and 
not of chance for all husbands and wives everywhere. 
That is, with the passing of militarism, the possi- 
bility of the exercise of the will as a factor in the 



When Shall These Things Be? 291 

reproduction of the human species will become 
realizable. 

Again, for the first time in the history of the 
world, science has now reached such a degree of 
attainment that it is possible for it to solve the 
intricate problem of conception as it occurs in the 
human species. And that is another fact which can 
be set down as making the present the acceptable 
time for undertaking the establishment of choice 
rather than chance as the chief factor in bringing 
children into this world. 

Up to date, the whole matter of the actual condi- 
tion under which a woman may conceive is practically 
an unknown quantity. As noted in a previous chap- 
ter, it is known that such a result comes from the 
union of the male and female germ-cells ; but what the 
conditions are, or must be, under which such cells 
will, or will not unite — all this is, for the most part, 
still a matter of mystery. And it is to the clearing 
up of this mystery that the science of the future must 
devote itself. And it will do this just as soon as it 
is safe for it to bend its energies in that direction, 
not before. That is, it will do this when the laws 
which now practically brand as a crime even a search 
for such knowledge are removed from the statute 
books of the states and the nations of the world. 
Then, but not before. 

But, with these barriers to human progress 
removed, that scientific men and women will devote 



29S Children hy Chance or by Choice 

themselves to the solution of this most important of 
all human problems — of this there is not a doubt. 
And it is equally certain that, having once under- 
taken this task, they will never cease laboring upon 
it till they have found what they were looking for. 
And they will do this sometime. And now is the 
accepted time for them to be set to this work. 

In which connection it may be remarked that Ger- 
many, with her characteristic definite methods for 
arriving at conclusions and results, took advantage 
of certain opportunities which the war offered by 
making some interesting studies and experiments 
along the lines of birth control, in a way, as follows : 
By deliberately arranging the meeting-time of fur- 
loughed soldiers and their wives, and by noting the 
sex of the children bom from such meetings, they 
deduced certain laws regarding the determination of 
the sex of a child at the time of its conception, which 
promised to be of great value to the future of the 
nation in its aim to be the greatest military power in 
the world. Of course, what Germany was anxious to 
find out was, how to breed boys, who would in time 
make soldiers ; and many of the results they obtained 
go to show that it is quite possible to realize the 
results they aimed to secure. 

It goes without saying that the gaining of this 
particular item of knowledge has no definite relation 
to the matter of determining, by choice, the number 
of children that any husband and wife may have, 



When Shall These Things Be? 293 

but it does establish the possibility of at least some 
positive knowledge being obtained in this most com- 
plicated of all human problems, when the same is 
sought after and pursued under scientific control 
and by methods that will yield determinable results. 
It is such scientific research, properly and right- 
eously applied in times of peace that will yield the 
knowledge that will be required to make positive birth 
control in all its phases, an actuality. And now is 
the accepted time for undertaking such work, which, 
up to the present, has never been possible of even 
trying for. 

One more reason why now is the accepted time 
for undertaking this task, is the fact that the recent 
world-war has swept away mountains of prudery and 
prejudice regarding sex life and sex living which have 
heretofore barred all attempts at progress towards 
bettering the status of mankind in these most essen- 
tial matters of human life. Books are now written 
and read in which the item of sex in the human race 
is treated in a manner that would not have been 
tolerated but a few years ago. More than this, 
newspapers and magazines print columns, and even 
pages, upon this subject, and all these are read by 
millions of persons who, but a short time ago, would 
have turned pale, or red, at the very thought of 
reading what they now read without a tremor of any 
sort, and "without shame, or the thought of shame." 
All of which is as it should be. 



294 Children by Chance or by Choice 

Added to all this, the Government of the United 
States has recently begun the publication and distri- 
bution of sex literature, on a very extended scale, 
much of which would not have been permitted to go 
through the mails only a few years ago. Some of 
these documents are of a very pronounced sort, and 
deal with the subject in no uncertain way. They 
"call a spade a spade" and discuss sex matters in 
terms that he who runs may read and understand. 
And the government officials are broad-casting this 
literature through the mails to the extent of millions 
of copies annually. 

Besides these new departures on the part of the 
press and the government, such staid and heretofore 
almost if not quite "purist" institutions as the 
Y. M. C. A. and the Y. W. C. A. have left their old 
negative hush and don't moorings, and are now sail- 
ing out into a more open sea of light and air in the 
item of sex-knowledge. Both these institutions are 
doing much towards the dissemination of information 
regarding sex, as a factor in human life. They have 
lectures given upon these subjects, and they dis- 
tribute much literature which has sex for its theme. 
They have special counselors and advisors upon sex 
matters, who can be consulted by their members, and 
in many ways they are carrying on propaganda 
along these lines which is far in advance of anything 
that has ever before existed. And all of this makes 
for the possibility of the rightful consideration of 



When Shall These Thmgs Be? 295 

the subject of birth control and its related issues. 

And, beyond all this, many of the public schools 
of the United States now include the study of sex 
hygiene in their courses of study; and in nearly all 
the higher institutions of learning of the country, the 
colleges and universities, education in matters per- 
taining to sex is a part of the regular curriculum. 
It is true that none of these means for the dissemina- 
tion of long and much needed sex-knowledge have as 
yet gone very deeply into the subject, and that there 
is much left for them to do before they reach an 
efficiency which is so greatly to be desired. But that 
they have made the beginning which they have is in 
itself most significant, and that they will continue in 
the good way they have started to travel is certain. 
Gradually they will abandon the prudishness and 
false-modesty which now appear in much of their 
teaching, and with the passing of these will go many 
errors in their instruction regarding righteous sex- 
functioning and its rightful place in the economy of 
normal human life. 

Many of these new and favorable conditions 
regarding sex-knowledge are the results of the recent 
war, which has done much toward opening the eyes 
of mankind in many directions where heretofore they 
saw nothing. Such results were not planned for nor 
provided for, but they have arrived in spite of all 
opposition, and they are here to stay. They have 
also opened the minds of the multitudes so that they 



296 Children hy Chance or by Choice 

are now prepared to study and consider a subject 
which has, heretofore, always been taboo, in a way 
which is decent and wholesome — in a way never, till 
just now, possible. 

And so, these things which I have outlined and 
plead for in what I have so far written, will gradually 
become realities as new social conditions are intro- 
duced and established in the civic, industrial and 
religious forms of community life; and the signs of 
the times indicate that the beginning, at least, of 
such new order of things, in all these items, are not 
only at hand, but an entire change, from what has 
been to what may be, has already made marked and 
substantial progress towards positive fulfillment. 

These are some of the reasons why it would seem 
that *'now is the accepted time" to take up and 
master the matter of having children born by choice 
rather than by chance, and of bringing the whole 
item of sex-expression in the human species up out 
of the realm of mere animality, and of establishing 
it upon the higher and holier plane of the Plus of 
Humanity, where it rightfully and righteously 
belongs. The world has waited long for the coming 
of such a time, but it has not waited in vain; for, 
even now, the day when these things shall be is 
dawning. Thanks be ! 



CHAPTER XV 

SOME REASONS WHY WHAT SHOULD BE WILL BECOME 
WHAT MUST BE 

So far in what I have written, I have spoken of 
the having of children by choice rather than by 
chance as something that should be. In this chapter, 
I shall show that this method of human reproduction 
not only should be, but that it must be ; and that, for 
this cause, it some day mil be. Some of my reasons 
for thinking this and for saying this are as follows : 

In order to reach the conclusion I have just 
announced, it will be necessary to go a long way back 
into the history of the human race; indeed, to that 
far time when man, as man, began to be, and even 
farther than that, and to consider at least some of 
the ways and means that have been utilized to bring 
him to his present estate. 

And the first item to note in such reconnoiter is 
the fact that PROGRESS has always been a con- 
stant factor in the successions of life-expressions 
which have appeared vn time and space. In other 
words, the records of the workings of the Life-Force 
in this world as these appear, seriatim, establish the 
fact that it always has been, and still is, the purpose 

297 



298 Children by Chance or by Choice 

and design of the Powei that underlies all things, and 
that is beneath and within all things, to continually 
make the good better and cause the better always 
to move toward the best. This is the basic and 
supreme law of all life, and toward its constant ful- 
fillment all the processes of nature have moved, now 
move; and hence we believe will forever continue to 
move. That is, life is eternal progress. Either this 
is true, must be true, or else this old cosmos is but a 
jumble of chance products, a chaos of happenings, a 
lot of may-be-sos, a headless, formless and meaning- 
less mass of nothings ! 

And the world cannot be that. Indeed, we know 
it is not that, by the records of life-advancements 
which written and pre-historic history furnish for 
man to read. These all show that there are now 
higher life-forms than there were aeons ago, and 
that man himself, as one of these life-forms, has 
advanced, in many ways, from his primitive condi- 
tions to his present attainments. 

And this means that the world is now really better 
than it has been. No sane and thoughtful human 
being can deny that fact. 

And if this is so, by the same token it is not strain- 
ing a point to conclude that what has been will be; 
and that means that PROGRESS can always be 
counted on as a constant factor in the successions of 
life-expressions which are YET TO APPEAR m 
time and space. 



What Should Be Will Become What Must Be 299 

If this is not so, life is not worth living — any form 
of it ! But it is so, and so life is worth living — all 
forms of it ! 

True, this progress has not always been of equal 
speed in its outworkings and varied manifestations, 
nor has it been without what seemed, for the time 
being, positive breaks in its forward march. There 
have been occasions when the wheels of advancement, 
in all forms of life-expression, seemed to roll back- 
ward, rather than forward, even to the extent that, 
now and then, it might truthfully be written of almost 
any life-form "the last estate is worse than the first." 
But from all such retrogressions Life has rallied, 
and in the next forward movement it has surpassed 
all its former high-marks of achievement ; and so, 
through the years, the total acquirements of the 
varied expressions of the Life-Force, as a whole, 
have been from more to more, from the good to the 
better, and from the better ever towards the best. 

Such is the fundamental principle that all of 
Nature's processes are based upon, and upon which 
they all work. The particular one of these work- 
ings-out that we have to deal with in this book, is 
that which pertains to the human race; that is, the 
progress of mankind, from its simplest beginnings to 
its present estate, and from there on to its possible 
future attainments. 

Not to dogmatize regarding the origin of the 
human species, as to how, when and where the race 



300 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

began, it can be safely asserted that from all the 
records of its upward journey that mankind has left 
in time and space, we are warranted in concluding 
that, so far as history can be made to testify, man 
began in a very low estate; and that, whether he 
emerged from some form of life below him or not, 
still, this is true, that all the records show that the 
early types of the race were of a very brutal nature, 
and in many ways but little above the other forms 
of animal life with which they were surrounded. 
That is, in his primitive condition, the great majority 
of characteristics which man possessed were animal 
rather than mental or spiritual; and the mission of 
the Life-Force, working in this being, has always 
been for the purpose of developing in him a pre- 
ponderance of these higher qualities, over and above 
those of the grosser elements with which he was 
primarily endowed; that is, to add to his lower 
nature a PLUS, which should be the chief character- 
'istic of his humanity. 

This is a somewhat general statement of the 
gradual trend and progress of the human race from 
its lowest to its highest estates. 

And in all of TusiTC %earlier advancements, and to a 
greater or less degree in all his forward movements 
thus far, the impelling force that has moved him on 
and up has been a compulsion rather than an attrac- 
tion! He has advanced because he had to rather 
than because he desired to. The great bulk of all 



What Should Be Will Become What Must Be 301 

that primitive man did was the result of instinct 
rather than of any other incitement to action ; and, 
as I have already shown, instinct's only method of 
working is that of compulsion, without initiative, 
thought, or impulse on the part of the actor. All 
life-forms below man are guided and controlled by 
instinct only, and instinct never causes any prog- 
ress whatever on the part of the being through which 
it alone acts. 

But it was ordained that human beings should 
progress into a new and a higher order of life-expres- 
sion, and so it became the business of the Life-Force 
to move man up out of the instinctive realm in which 
he, for the most part, primitively functioned, into a 
higher condition in which personal initiative should 
be the impelling cause for his acts, and his own will 
should be the constant main-spring of his endeavors 
and accomplishments. 

And as man has advanced in his upward path, 
there has been a constant diminution of instinct as 
the impelling force for his activities, and a corre- 
sponding and continual increase in initiative ability 
on his own part, the central core of which has been 
his own independent will, manifesting itself in the 
forms of impulse and intuition, of desire, imagination 
and ingenuity, in a word, in The Plus of Humanity ! 

Such are the fundamental principles which have 
obtained in the human uplift, from the first even 
until now. 



30S Children by Chance or by Choice 

Now it is a common characteristic of all life-forms 
that the lower they are in the scale of existence the 
more insensate they are, and the harder it is to stimu- 
late them so as to arouse a response on their part. 
From this it follows that the cruder the life-form the 
more intense must be the stimulus to arouse it to 
action. These are simple and well-known facts, but 
they need to be stated just here to introduce the 
argument we are now entering upon. 

And to make this situation perhaps still clearer 
than ever, as it applies to human beings, let us 
repeat in another form, before we go on, that the 
problem that the Life-Force had on hand, so far as 
man was concerned, was to take a being which was 
primarily moved to action almost entirely by vnsti/nct 
alone, and to build onto, or into the same, such facul- 
ties and requirements as would make of him a self- 
conscious, self-inspiring, self-directing, self-directed 
and self-acting individuality ! I take it that this is 
exactly what is meant by the words: "And God 
said : Let us make man vn our own imageT' Because, 
self-consciousness, self-inspiration, self-direction, 
self-action — all these are, must be, qualities of the 
Infinite Source. of All Things! 

And so, since man, as really man, began as, for 
the most part, chiefly an instinctive being, (Of 
course, since he was now at least some human instead 
of all mere brute, — for it was this added something 
which began to distinguish him from the forms of 



What Should Be Will Become What Must Be 303 

life below him — he had in his make-up, even then, at 
least the rudiments of the higher faculties with which 
he was in time to be more fully endowed) it was by 
acting on these minor elements of his nature that his 
progress was to be secured. And since these rudi- 
ments of a higher form of life were but crude and 
undeveloped beginnings, they could only be appealed 
to by crude stimuli as a means of awakening a 
response on the part of their possessor. 

And so it was that the Life-Force brought to bear 
upon primitive man such crude means of arousing 
his attention and securing his initiative activities as 
war, famine, poverty, pestilence, disease and vice in 
various forms. All these were to act, and did act, as 
stimuli to the dormant or slightly developed faculties 
which existed in the earlier forms of human life. And 
the resistance to all these was grounded in human 
selfishness ! It was from such gross beginning as 
unmixed self-benefiting that the highest of human 
altruisms has come ! Truly, the old hymn was right, 
which said: 

"God moves in a mysterious way, 
His wonders to perform." 

I need not go into extended details as to just what 
each or all of these crude stimuli have done, and, in 
some measure, are still doing for mankind. If you 
will stop to think it out, you can discover for your- 
self what these are, at least for the most part. And 



304 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

as you proceed with such thinking, you will see that 
all these appeals to dense humanity came to him in 
the following order, namely, desire, imagination and 
ingenuity. I suppose that behind these lay impulse 
and intuition, which are the primary human qualities 
which were the basic cause of strictly human activi- 
ties, as distinguished from instinctive activities. But, 
with the implanting in a life-form of impulse and 
intuition there followed, in natural sequence, human 
activities which were initiated and carried forward 
at the behest of desire, imagination and ingenuity. 
This is the common history of all human achieve- 
ments, of all human progress. And, be it remem- 
bered that mere animals have none of these qualities, 
as such! 

And so it is that war, which is the crudest and 
grossest of all these forces which have incited man- 
kind to actions which resulted in progress, stimulated 
man to enlarge the sphere of his influence and power 
and to gain a wider sway for the exploitation of 
himself and his belongings. To be sure, animals had 
always fought, but animal fighting is one thing and 
war, as carried on by human beings, is quite another 
thing! All animal fighting was of a strictly indi- 
vidual sort. One animal fought another animal for 
any one of many reasons. More than this, such 
methods of fighting as they used were purely instinc- 
tive. No training was needed for their acquirement, 
and no practice improved their method of attack or 



What Should Be Will Become What Must Be 305 

defense. In all their conflicts, imagination had no 
part, nor did mgenuity in any way add to their 
prestige. 

But when man began to give expression to the war- 
like part of his nature, desire forwarded what impulse 
had started within him, imagi/nation took up the pos- 
sibilities involved, and ingenuity set itself to the task 
of successfully working out what its predecessors 
had brought to it for accomplishment. And so 
concerted actions were devised, a manual of arms was 
thought out and formulated, drill was inaugurated, 
discipline was maintained, and so the Art of war was 
developed. Animals have no art of war ! It was a 
crude form of the plus of humanity, resulting from 
the response of mankind to the stimulus of war, that 
produced both the science and the art of war, which, 
low down as they are in the scale of human activities, 
have, taken as a whole, tended to lift man from the 
sphere of instinct into the realm of a higher order 
of action based upon his own will and initiative! 
Grant that the method was gross and harsh and 
cruel, still, it accomplished what it was set to do, 
and who shall say that such outcome could have 
been realized in any other way.? 

Suppose you try to think of some other way in 
which it might have been realized — of some other 
way of raising a nearly mindless and almost wholly 
instinctive being into a condition in which he would 
be a rational personality, acting on his own initia- 



Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

tive, and producing results which were solely the 
product of his own activities. Do not devise miracles 
for bringing such a change about, for such have no 
place in Nature's economies ; but see if you can think 
of any other way than the one the Life-Force has 
used at the hands of war, for producing the results 
in humanity which war has brought about ! 

Now, this is not deifying war, nor claiming that, 
since it has done so much for the human race, it 
should always remain as a factor for the advance- 
ment of mankind. It is only saying that, when man 
was in his primitive and low estate, this crude means 
for raising him to a higher life-level, did work the 
transformation! That's all! It was an instrument 
in the order of man's evolution for increasing in him 
the Plus of Humanity which was destined to become 
the chief characteristic of his human nature. So 
much for war as a stimulant to progress on the part 
of primitive man. 

In the same general line of crude and gross stimuli 
which were used to arouse primitive man from his 
insensate condition of almost entire animality, and 
to set his feet on the upward path of human prog- 
ress, mental and spiritual, which developed the Plus 
of Humanity in him, come famine, poverty, pesti- 
lence, disease, vice, and other life-opposing forces 
whose overcoming tended to develop in the over- 
comers higher and more worthy life-attainments. 
I need not trace, in detail, just what each of these 



What Should Be Will Becoine What Must Be 307 

stimulants to mankind did for human advancement. 
Enough for the argument that they all were utilized 
as means for pushing, or forcing, if you will, indi- 
viduals and the race as a whole, from a lower to a 
higher condition of life. That much is certain, and 
that much is sufficient for the present presentment. 
That is, it took "hard knocks" to arouse the primi- 
tive man from his early conditions, and to develop in 
him a plus of humanity. Let that part of the argu- 
ment rest just here for the moment. 

The next item to notice in what we are now trying 
to get at is the fact that it is a great and funda- 
mental law of nature that any and every species of 
life-forms wUl midtiply beyond the limits of its 
possible food supply unless its surplus is in some way 
checked! 

Now, there is no exception to this law ! It applies 
to all life-forms which have ever appeared in time 
and space, and it is Nature's way of doing things, 
from which there is no appeal or escape. Drive 
another peg there, and drive it so deep that it will 
never pull up ! 

The Scientists' way of accounting for this state of 
things is, that Nature, in order to make sure of the 
persistence of each and every species, always pro- 
duces a surplus of the individuals composing that 
form of life, and then, not to permit that surplus to 
go to such extreme that it will result in defeating its 
own object, by becoming so numerous that it will 



308 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

entirely exhaust the food supply of the entire species, 
it provides "checks" for this over-supply, which 
destroy enough of the individuals to keep the total 
of the species within the limits of its means of subsist- 
ence. This is another illustration of the "prodi- 
gality of Nature" which we saw manifest in our study 
of the germ-cells which appear in such unlimited 
supply in the reproduction of life-forms of all sorts. 
This surplus of cells we noted were destroyed in 
many ways, and so were rendered useless before they 
could be utilized ; and we also saw that if they were 
all utilized, the world itself could not contain the 
amount of what they would produce. If every apple 
blossom developed into a full-grown apple, every 
apple-tree of any considerable size would produce a 
car-load of apples ! If all the eggs which all the fishes 
lay were hatched, and if all that were hatched grew 
to maturity, the ocean itself would be stiff with fish 
in a single year, and there would be no water to sail 
on or in! And what is true in these cases is corre- 
spondingly true in all cases of the reproduction of 
life-forms, in any and all species. 

And so it is that Nature provides "checks" which 
dispose of all "surpluses'* and so keep the prodigality 
of Nature from defeating its own ends. These are 
all well-known facts ; but they have to be built into 
our argument to make it invincible, in and of itself. 

Now, the human species is no exception to this 
universal law! We have seen what a surplus of 



What Should Be Will Become What Must Be 309 

human germ-cells are produced, as compared with 
the number which are really utilized. And it is surely 
a self-evident fact that, if every one of these human 
germ-cells developed into a full-grown man or woman, 
the world itself could not contain the product of even 
a single generation! And so the surplus of human 
germ-cells is "checked," that is, they are not per- 
mitted to mature to the full extent of their primal 
and inherent possibilities ! 

And, by the same token, if all the children who 
are bom into this world grew to maturity, the world 
would very soon be vastly over-populated. 

All we have to do to verify the truth of these state- 
ments is to use a little mathematics on the proposi- 
tion, and the whole thing will be clearly demon- 
strated, beyond all controversy. For instance, count 
that the population of any country, or of the world, 
if left unchecked, will double itself every fifty years, 
and then realize the certainty that it is many 
thousands of years since man first appeared in the 
world, and see what soon comes from such figuring! 
I'll not take the time to work this problem out for 
you, for you can do it as well as I can. Besides, if 
you will work it out for yourself you will have a far 
better realizing sense of the actual force of the figures 
than you would have if I should do the work for you. 

But I need not argue this point further, just here. 
Its truth is so easily verified that it is almost self- 
evident. And the truth is that, were it not for 



310 Children by Chance or by Choice 

"checks," of some sort, the human species would long 
since have become so numerous that the world itself 
could not contain it. And so it turns out that there 
must have been "checks" upon the surplus of the 
human species in the past, or the world of today 
would not be a possibility, so far as its present 
population is concerned. This is an undeniable fact. 
Count it as such, and see what follows — must follow! 

Now, when we come to look for the "checks" which 
have removed the surplus of the human species, we 
find the chief of these to have been war, famine, 
poverty, pestilence, disease and vice. There have 
been some other "checks," it is true, but they are 
really of minor importance when compared with 
these six great deterrents for the increase of the 
human species. It is these six which have been in 
evidence as the wholesale reducers of the human 
surplus, ever since the race began! This is another 
almost self-evident proposition. 

And now here is a most remarkable fact, namely, 
that these six great checks upon the human surplus 
are the very same means which were used by the 
Life-Force to stimulate man in his primal insensate 
condition, and to force him up and into a higher 
state of being and existence. And this might well 
be noted as an instance of the Economy of Nature, 
which thus uses one and the same means for the 
accomplishment of double and different results! A 
wonderful thing is Nature, or the Lif e-F'orce ! 



What Should Be Will Become What Must Be 311 

With these points established, here is one more to 
consider as immediately related to them, as follows: 
As already suggested, it is a principle in the working 
of the Life-Force that the grosser the material in 
which it works, the harsher the measures it must use 
to produce desired results. And, per contra, the 
finer and more subtle the medium it has to manipu- 
late, the more delicate the means it utilizes to obtain 
its objects. In other words, compulsion is the basis 
of progress for all crude forms of life ; invitation is 
the power that lures men on when they have become 
sensitive enough to be subject to its gracious influ- 
ences. The force that is behind the material world 
and which makes it move on is the "big stick!" In 
the higher realms of life, "the spirit beckons !" The 
law of the animal man is "go !'' The principle that 
animates all the Plus in humanity is "come!" And 
there is all the difference between heaven and hell in 
those two words, if an attempt is made to use them 
in other realms than those in which they rightly 
belong. If you say "come," and only that, to the 
animal man, you "cast pearls before swine, and they 
will trample them under their feet, and turn again 
and rend you!" (What wonderfully true sayings 
there are in the Old Book !) If you say "go," and 
only that, to all that is plus in humanity, you act 
the part of "a bull in a china shop," and nothing but 
the most lamentable ruin can result from your so 
doing 1 



312 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

And so it is that, as man has risen in the scale of 
being, has come up out of the realm of brutality and 
entered into the sphere of mentality and spirituality, 
that is, into the plus of humanity, there has been 
less and less need of using the "big stick" to insure 
his progress, and more and more opportunity for 
love to lure him on ! This is another fundamental 
law of Nature — of the Life-Force ! 

All of which, of course, means that, as man has 
advanced in the scale of being, the less and less has 
been the need of the use of compulsion to secure his 
progress, and the more and more he has been able to 
move on and up of his own volition — ^impelled by his 
own power of choice! 

And so it is an actual fact that the compelling 
forces which were brought to bear upon the primitive 
man to insure his progress are growing less and less 
needed to secure the results which they alone could 
produce under man's earliest conditions ! These com- 
pelling forces, as we have already seen, were war, 
famine, poverty, pestilence, disease and vice. And 
just so soon as these have forced mankind up into a 
sphere of life where their influence is no longer 
needed, just so soon can they be eliminated, or 
excused from further service as factors in the prog- 
ress of the human race ! 

This is the real reason why war is fast coming to 
an end in this world ; why famine is now practically 
impossible in any part of the globe ; why poverty is 



WJmt Should Be Will Become What Must Be 313 

gradually, but certainly, disappearing (and bound 
to more and more disappear, as time goes on !) ; why 
pestilence is fast being swept out of existence; why 
disease is more and more yielding to control ; and why 
vice is steadily being exterminated as a factor in the 
needs of mankind! (Now, don't insist that I prove, 
by statistics, that all these things are as I have just 
stated them. You know how they are as well as I 
do; and unless you are a determined and chronic 
pessimist you know that they are as I have said. 
And if you are just that, it is no use to try to prove 
to you what you would not accept, though one rose 
from the dead to clinch the demonstration! As 
Whitman says : "I am not saying these things for a 
dollar, nor to fill up time while I wait for a boat. 
It is you talking, just as much as myself. I act as 
the tongue of you. Tied in your mouth, in mine it 
begins to be loosened.") 

But now, note this : Though man has undoubtedly 
moved on and up in the scale of being, and has, in 
large measure, entered into the realm of the Plus of 
Humanity ; still, the physical possibilities for repro- 
duction in the race remain as they were, and there is 
just as great a prodigality of Nature in these 
particulars now as there ever was! The men and 
women of today produce just as many human germ- 
cells as any men and women ever did; and unless 
there is some ''checJc^* put upon the efficiency of these, 
there is liable to be a greater surplus of human 



314 Children hy Chance or by Choice 

beings bom under this new order of things than under 
the old regime! And this means that, if all the old 
^'checks" are gone, some other which will do the work 
they did must take their place, or disastrous results 
are bound to follow ! 

For, be it always remembered, the law which 
always provides for a possible surplus in all species 
has never been repealed, and never will be repealed! 
And, since this is so, it creates a condition which must 
always be provided for, in one way or another. The 
old ways of so providing are past, or fast passing; 
and it inevitably follows that some other way must be 
established in its stead, or the new order will be worse 
than the old! I can find no way of escaping this 
conclusion ! Can you ? 

Which things being so, what is clearer, what can 
be clearer, than that this new ''check" upon the 
human surplus must be the human will — the 
deliberate power of choice on the part of the beings 
whose welfare and conditionings are now placed in 
their own hands, to be manipulated and directed 
as they desire, rather than as they are compelled to 
accept ? In all other realms of life where primal 
conditions have been supplanted by more delicate 
means of producing desired results, it is the human 
will, acting through desire, imagination and inge- 
nuity, which has been installed as the acting force in 
the premises. And if so there, why not here? I 
ask why.? 



Wh^t Should Be Will Become What Must Be 315 

If there is any other reasonable or rational answer 
to this question than the one I have proposed, I 
should be glad to be told what it is ! Have you one 
in hand? I doubt it! And if you have not, what 
follows ? Think this through ! 

Now I am well aware that much of what I have 
said so far in this chapter is not at all new. Others 
have said the same things, in various ways, for many 
years. And because they have done so, and there 
have been varied opinions about what they have 
said, I consider it worth while, and indeed practically 
necessary, that I review, somewhat briefly, what they 
have said, and the diff*erent things that have been 
said about these sayings and believings. 

The chief of all these sayers was an English clergy- 
man, Rev. T. R. Malthus, by name, who lived and 
wrote upon this subject something more than a hun- 
dred years ago. He was a thoughtful man, and a 
reasoner of rare ability, at least so far as cause and 
eff'ect were concerned regarding what he wrote about. 
When it came to remedying affairs that needed 
betterment, it must be confessed he was not a great 
success. But one thing he surely did, and that was 
to call attention to the fact that nature always 
provides a surplus in every species of life, and that 
such surplus must be checked, in some way, or 
disastrous results are bound to follow. 

The chief thing that Malthus did was to put the 
whole proposition he discussed into a very terse and 



316 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

telling mathematical formula, as follows: The 
natural increase in any species is according to the 
law of geometrical progression, while the possible 
increase in food supply can only be made according 
to the law of arithmetical progression. That is a 
fine scientific way of stating the situation; but, like 
all mathematical propositions, it needs demonstra- 
tion; and the case it presents is so important as it 
stands related to what I am considering in this 
chapter, that I want to make it clear to every one of 
my readers. Besides this, experience has taught me 
that the great majority of people have forgotten 
most of the mathematics they ever knew; and so, if 
they are to get a full comprehension of the point I 
am now making, it would have to be only after look- 
ing the matter up, and that, very few of them would 
take the time and trouble to do. And so, if I am to 
get results (and I want to do just that) I shall be 
obliged to work out the demonstration, to a degree, 
at least, right here and now. Let us proceed to do 
this, as follows: 

The law of geometrical progression requires a 
regular increase in a series of numbers by multiplying 
each number in the series, beginning with the first, 
by the same multiplier. That is, suppose we start 
with the number 2, and increase it according to the 
law of geometric progression by multiplying it, and 
the products which would result from such multipli- 



What Should Be Will Become What Must Be 317 

cation, In turn, by 2. If we do this, we shall have a 
series, as follows : 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, and 
so on, as far as we care to carry the figures. 

On the other hand, the law of arithmetical pro- 
gression requires that a series of numbers be increased 
by the addition of the same number to each term in 
the series, beginning with the first. That is, if we 
start with the number 2, and use the number 2 as the 
constant number to be added to make a mathemati- 
cally progressive series, we shall have, for such series, 
2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, and so on, as far as we care 
to go. I think this will make it clear to you exactly 
what is meant by geometrical progression, and what 
by arithmetical progression. The first increases by 
multiplying by a constant number ; the second by the 
addition of a constant number. 

Now, if we understand this, let us see how it works 
out in the demonstration of the proposition laid 
down by Malthus. He says that the law of increase 
of population (for we need consider only the human 
species in his demonstration, though the principle 
applies to any and all species with equal force as 
well) is that of geometric progression, while that of 
food supply is in arithmetical progression. That is, , 
if we start with 2 people, the law of their natural 
increase, from generation to generation, would pro- 
duce results as follows, provided each generation 
doubled, as each came on, in turn: First genera- 



318 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

tlon 2; 2nd, 4; 3rd, 8; 4th, 16; 5th, 32; 6th, 64; 
7th, 128; 8th, 256; and so on, as far as we care 
to go. 

On the other hand, the food supply, on a given 
and constant area, would only increase for such pop- 
ulation by adding the same amount of possible prod- 
uct by one generation to that produced by the gen- 
eration following it, as follows: Food-supply for 
first generation 2. For 2nd, 4 ; 3rd, 6 ; 4th, 8 ; 5thi 
10; 6th, 12; 7th, 14; 8th, 16, etc. 

Putting these two computations together, it ap- 
pears as clear as daylight that, beginning with 2 
people, at the end of the 8th generation we should 
have a population of 256 from such origin ; while, if 
all these people lived on the same area of land that 
their progenitors occupied, their food supply would 
be sufficient for but 16 of the 256! And that is 
something to think about ! It is what Mr. Malthus 
asked folks to think about. Some have done so ; 
others have not. But that all will have to think 
about it some time is as sure as sunrise. Some fig- 
ures may be made to lie, but these are made to tell 
the truth ! And they tell it, all right, whether man 
hear or whether they forbear! 

This matter is so important to the items involved 
in the issues we are considering in this chapter, that 
I want to look at it from one more angle, which is a 
bit more concrete than the one just used, and so 
may prove more forcible to some of my readers: 



What Should Be Will Become What Must Be 319 

Suppose that, at some given time, 100 people were 
living on a square mile of land, somewhere in the 
world, and that it was ordained that their descend- 
ants shall be confined to this area for six succeed- 
ing generations. (England had an average of over 
600 people to each square mile of her area when the 
world-war broke out.) Suppose that this square 
mile was fertile enough to furnish an abundant sup- 
ply of food for these 100 people, who would all to- 
gether require about 40 tons of edibles each year 
to meet their needs. This would give each inhab- 
itant about two-and-one-half pounds of food daily, 
which is a little more than the average daily ration 
for a soldier. 

Suppose, next, that the average number of years 
for a generation of these people was thirty-three 
years, and that their increase, and their food-supply 
were according to the laws we have already noted. 
This would mean that, at the end of the first genera- 
tion, there would be 200 people living on this square 
mile, which would then have to produce 80 tons of 
food to meet their needs. At the end of 100 years 
there would be 800 people on this square mile, which 
would then produce only 160 tons of food, instead 
of 320 tons which would be required to feed these 
folks as their great-grandfathers were fed. That 
is, these 800 people would be cut down to one-half 
the rations which their ancestors lived on. And un- 
der the action of these same laws, at the end of 200 



320 Children by Chance or hy Choice 

years, there would be 3,200 people on this square 
mile, while the total product of this area could only 
produce enough to give each inhabitant 75 pounds of 
food a year, as against 800 pounds each, for the 
first generation! And it is easy to see that they 
would all starve to death, under such conditions ! 

To be sure, this is a supposed case, and the like 
of it has never practically existed. Still, it is but 
a truthful demonstration of a principle which is un- 
deniably true, and which must and will eventually 
work out as here depicted, if left to act according 
to its own intrinsic qualities. As a quite definite 
proof of this, note the following: 

Malthus lived just about 100 years ago. At the 
time he wrote, the British Islands had a population 
of about 11,000,000. He said that, while 33 years 
were counted as a generation, or the time in which 
any given population would double itself (as a mat- 
ter of fact, in the early history of New England 
the population doubled in 18 years, from the excess 
of births over deaths; and there have been other 
colonies which have nearly equaled this ratio of in- 
crease in their beginning years), yet he would allow 
50 years for the doubling of the population in these 
islands, or that they would double their number of 
inhabitants twice in the first 100 years after he 
wrote. This calculation would give these Islands 
a population of 44,000,000 at this time, according 
to his figures. The last census of the British Isles, 



What Should Be Will Become What Must Be 321 

taken shortly before the war, gave their total pop- 
ulation at about 45,000,000, which shows that Mal- 
thus was not far wrong in his estimate. 

But, to feed these people whose number is four 
times as great as it was a century ago, there was 
only two-and-one-half times as much food available, 
produced on its own territory, as there was one 
hundred years before. And this means much! 

Meantime, be it remembered that, during all this 
century, war was still in evidence as a "check" upon 
the increase of population in these islands, and for 
much of the time it was grimly so ! I need not en- 
large on this fact. Its history is so recent that 
every school child knows it ! The Irish famine is 
also included in this period; while the poverty that 
held sway during many of these years, in many parts 
of this domain, was of a most destructive nature. 
More than once, also, during this century, pestilence 
visited this locality, causing the deaths of many 
thousands of its inhabitants ; diseases, many of them 
of a most malignant type, were widespread, during 
all this period, and vice, in its varied and virulent 
forms, took a tremendous toll of human lives as these 
hundred years went by. All these were "checks" 
upon the increase of the population of the British 
Isles during all this time, and yet, it was multiplied 
by four during this century. The item to consider 
is, what would the population of this area have been 
had these "checks'^ been much less than they were. 



322 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

or even if some of them had been entirely removed? 
And yet, as these matters are today, all these 
"checks" are far less potent than they were a cen- 
tury ago, and they are all growing less and less de- 
structive with every passing year! True, war is 
not, as yet, entirely gone, but the probabilities all 
are that it is far nearer the vanishing point than 
it has ever been in all the world's history, and the 
chances are many to one that it will never again 
rage as it has from the beginning until now. And 
with the present means of transportation, which are 
constantly growing more and more efficient, famvne 
is now almost an impossibility even in any remote 
corner of the earth. Mr. Hoover has taught an un- 
forgettable lesson in this regard. New social and 
industrial adjustments and regulations are making 
poverty less and less common than it formerly was. 
Pestilence is now a far less drastic destroyer than it 
has ever been. Science is doing wonders in perfect- 
ing the healing arts which are steadily reducing the 
death rate from disease; and vice is in many ways 
reduced as a destructive force in human society. 
These are all patent facts to all who have eyes to see 
things as they really are. And all of this means 
that the "checks" which were once efficient in keep- 
ing down the surplus of the human species are not 
as potent in doing that work as they once were, and 
that they are all growing less and less so, every 
day. This is so true that, for the last half century, 



What Slwvld Be Will Become What Must Be S^S 

there has been an increase of three years in the aver- 
age lifetime of human beings, take the world as a 
whole. So much is certain, and so much is enough 
for the argument we are following now. 

But the fundamental possibilities for race surplus 
in the human species are as great as ever; indeed, 
greater, unless some other check or checks are in- 
augurated to take the place of those which have 
lost their original potency. So much is beyond 
dispute. And yet there have been, and still are, 
those who ignore or dispute this most evident situ- 
ation; and to these, at least, some attention must 
be given, some answer must be made, and hence what 
follows : 

The simplest of all these are not worthy the name 
of antagonists. They do not oppose ; they only ig- 
nore. They pooh-pooh the whole proposition, and 
side-step the entire affair. They say: "Why fret.^^ 
There always has been enough on the earth for all 
the people who were alive on it, at any one time, 
and so there always will be ! And, anyhow, if there 
ever is trouble on this score, we shan't be here to 
suffer from it ! So let 'er roll !" And these are not 
worth replying to. Let them alone! 

Mr. Malthus himself met the situation something 
as follows: Although he did not say so in so many 
words, he led his readers to infer that the six 
"checks" to the surplus in the human species, 
namely, war, famine, poverty, pestilence, disease and 



324 Children hy Chance or by Choice 

vice, were God-ordained, and that, as such, they 
should not be "meddled with"! (Same old story!) 
And, as a matter of fact, many a philanthropic move 
whose aim was the betterment of mankind in Eng- 
land has been thwarted by adherents to the theory 
that it would be "contrary to Nature" to thus pre- 
vent the necessary elimination of a human surplus 
which must be disposed of in some way ! Fact ! 

As for Malthus himself, he proposed one more 
"check," as follows : He urged the regulation of 
marriage by law, to the effect that none should be 
permitted to marry unless they could show that they 
were possessed of property enough to take good care 
of any children they might have; and that all mar- 
riages should be postponed till such time as would 
make it impossible for any couple to have more than 
a limited number of children. He would have both 
grooms and brides at least thirty-five years old be- 
fore they went to the altar, or even older than this, 
when possible! Meantime, he insists that all these 
people should live absolutely "continent lives." 
With this addition to the other six "checks," he 
was confident the world would never become over- 
populated. And I don't see the need of making any 
answer to that! Do you? 

Other opposers of the possible-surplus theory 
have held that Nature's resources are inexhaustible ; 
that it has never yet been demonstrated how pro- 
ductive the earth can be made; that if population 



What Should Be Will Become What Must Be 325 

is too crowded in some places the surplus can go 
somewhere else; that discoveries may yet be made 
whereby food may be chemically made from the air ; 
and, in any event, there is no need of crossing a 
stream till one gets to it, etc., etc. These would 
remove the "checks" which have so far been in evi- 
dence where possible ; but they would set up none 
in their place, and trust to luck, or ingenuity, to 
avoid troublesome complications. 

These may be replied to, as follows : If the sur- 
face of the earth were not a limited area, their the- 
ory might hold. But it is limited; and because it 
is, even though it might be possible to feed the whole 
human race from the air, without money and with- 
out price, yet it would be only a matter of time till 
there would not be even ''standing room only" on 
this old globe for the billions of its inhabitants who 
would have need for a "place in the sun," if they 
could be fed and clothed free of charge! This is 
merely a mathematical certainty which is so simple 
that I need not figure it out for you. You can 
easily think it out for yourself. Meantime, it may 
not be amiss to call your attention to the fact that 
the world's latest and greatest war was caused 
chiefly, or in a large measure, at least, by a pres- 
sure of population, real and prospective, something 
as follows: 

With a scientific foresight which Germany pos- 
sessed beyond all other nations, her rulers saw that 



326 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

it was inevitable that she must have more room for 
her rapidly increasing population, or there would 
be insurmountable troubles ahead, and this she pro- 
posed to have, come what might from such action. 
To this end, she took no thought of trying to limit 
her surplus of births, but sought rather to stimu- 
late to its utmost of production this factor in her 
problem. With her totally materialistic view of 
the method and mission of all life, she espoused the 
principle of the "Survival of the Fittest" as the 
only efficient cause of all progress, human or other- 
wise; and this she translated into the philosophy of 
"Might Makes Right," and with all the power she 
could command she set to work to make herself the 
mistress of the world on this basis ! What she pro- 
posed to do was to make "a place in the sun" for 
herself and hers, no matter whether any other hu- 
man being in all the world had a case to put his head 
in or not! With a population that had already 
reached the density of 300 to the square mile, and 
with the number of square miles which her rapidly 
increasing surplus needed for accommodation, lim- 
ited as it was, she saw that the only thing to do 
to make sure of her future welfare, figured on this 
basis, was to make room for herself and hers, and 
this she proposed to do, come what might! 

All of which means that it was a prospective pres- 
sure of population, and an effort to relieve the same, 
which was really the chiefest cause of Germany's 



What Should Be Will Become What Must Be 327 

bringing about the world's greatest war. Of this, 
as a final analysis, there is not a shadow of doubt. 

And when one puts in with this the fact that Eng- 
land, with her population of 600 to the square mile, 
was also in need of more room for herself and hers, 
while Italy with her 350 to the square mile, was 
sending out an average of nearly a million emi- 
grants a year to find homes where they could; and 
Belgium, with her 650 to the square mile was using 
every endeavor w^ithin her power to find places for 
her surplus which was crowding to the limits of 
sustainable pressure, to say nothing of the pressure 
in Russia and the Far East — I say, when one puts 
all these facts together, it is self-evident that, even 
as things now are, it was the surplus of population 
which was a prime factor in causing the most recent 
and terrible of all wars. 

Curious fact it is, that none of these nations 
which engaged in this war (unless we except France) 
ever thought of relieving the situation by cutting 
down the birth-rate by birth control ! I suppose one 
reason why they did not was the fact that they were 
not yet far enough advanced in the real principles 
of genuine humanity to comprehend such a way of 
escape from an untoward situation ; and, further, 
that none of them dared, or could, use this method 
of relieving this over-pressure of population unless 
all the other nations with whom they were in rivalry, 
adopted the same means at the same time. And 



328 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

this, as things then were, was an utter impossibil- 
ity. It needed the crass stimulus of this war to 
wake these nations up to a realizing sense of the 
situation and to at least suggest to them a way 
of escape which would be at once humane and ef- 
fective! But as they were, all these nations were 
on the low plane of mere materialism ; they had, per- 
haps unwittingly, embraced the philosophy of The 
Survival of the Fittest as the law of all life-progress, 
and they saw possible help from out a perilous sit- 
uation only by means of carrying out the principle 
of a materialistic evolution, namely, that might 
makes right, and that it is as it should be that the 
strongest should take all they can get, and keep all 
they have, utterly regardless of any and every one 
but themselves and theirs ! This is the law of the 
animal man ! It is not the law of the plus of hu- 
manity ! 

What the law of the plus of humanity suggests is, 
that it would be far better sense, far more humane, 
to limit the number of children born into this world, 
than it is to destroy the surplus of the human spe- 
cies by such means as have heretofore prevailed in 
disposing of such super-abundance of mankind. 
Doesn't that proposition sound reasonable? And if 
it is reasonable; and further, if it is within the pos- 
sibilities for human ingenuity to devise and put into 
operation ways and means for keeping down the 
surplus, doesn't it seem as though it was the right 



What Should Be Will Become What Must Be 329 

thing to do to use such a method of dealing with 
this issue, rather than any other? It would cer- 
tainly seem so to any sane soul, if there are any 
such souls ! But let us not rail ! 

There are other opponents to the Malthusian the- 
ory who declare that the higher any life-organism 
is developed the less productive it becomes, and that 
this principle, as exemplified in the human species, 
will eventually cancel the tendency of the race to 
over-breed. Let us look into this theory, and see 
what the evidences are of its truthfulness: So far 
as instinctive life is concerned, the theory is un- 
doubtedly correct. The finest varieties of apples 
grow on trees which are "shy bearers," and the high- 
est bred stock produce the fewest descendants. This 
is all true. But my own observation leads me to 
make a distinction just here, so far as the human 
species is concerned. These theorists seem to hold 
that culture, training, college education, the pos- 
session of great wealth, moving in the best society, 
etc., that these are all marks of high bred people; 
and, consequently, that it is these people who have 
a less ability to breed than have those who are ig- 
norant or poor. And here is where my doubt comes 
in. As I have suggested on some former page, my 
observation leads me to the conclusion that it is 
not inability to reproduce that keeps these people 
from having large families; but that, being what 
they are, and being able to obtain certain knowledge 



330 Children by Chance or hy Choice 

in the premises ; or having the means which will en- 
able them to disregard the laws in such cases made 
and provided, they do, by a wilful birth-control, keep 
their families within the limits of their purposes and 
desires. I am not able to bring statistics to prove 
this point either; but I believe your conclusions will 
be mine if you will look about among the people of 
all classes whom you know, and make up your minds 
from your own observations regarding them, so far 
as this item is concerned. 

But, grant, for the sake of argument, that these 
people are right in their theory, namely, that culture 
and wealth tend to sterilize the possessors of one 
or both ; still, one cannot help wondering when the 
whole human race, the total of the rank and file, in- 
cluding the hewers of wood and the drawers of water, 
are going to come into the possession oi, or attain 
to the amount of culture and wealth which will ster- 
ilize them to the extent that, take the race as a whole, 
there will be no surplus of the species that will have 
to be provided for, or against! If these objectors 
to the Malthusian theory can show that their pro- 
posed remedy will do the work, that is enough. For 
myself, I don't believe that it can ever do it. My 
thought is, that their holding as they do is only one 
way of side-stepping an issue which they are really 
unwilling or afraid honestly to face. 

A modern philosopher who was a very pro- 
nounced opponent to the Malthusian theory, made 



What Should Be Will Become What Must Be 331 

an answer to it which was unique — and wrong! In 
his great desire to impress his theories upon his 
readers, he made the claim that, if these were once 
established, all else would be well with the world. 
And here is how he disposed of the "surplus of the 
species," as it pertains to the human race. He said 
that the web of generations is like the diagonals in 
a piece of cloth. Beginning at any given point, 
these lines expand equally in opposite directions ! 
How many children a man may have is problemat- 
ical, he says, but that he had two parents is certain, 
and that each of these two had two in turn, is equally 
sure ! And then, on this basis he invites those who 
believe in the Malthusian theory to "figure the thing 
out" and see what answer they get. Let us do that, 
for a little, at least: 

My father and mother had eight children ; each of 
us had two parents and four grandparents. Good! 
But, with each of us children having four grand- 
parents, we, all together, had but four, and not 
thirty-two, as this man's theory would make us 
have ! Quod erat Demonstrandum! Curious how 
some people reason ! No ! In the web of genera- 
tions the diagonals grow wide apart much faster 
on the forward march than they do when moving 
in the opposite direction. And this settles this ar- 
gument so far as it opposes Mr. Mdlthus' theory. 

One pbint further: It goes without saying that 
the establishment of some check, or checks, to pre- 



332 Children hy' Chance or hy Choice 

vent a surplus of mankind is a matter of necessity 
for the self-preservation of the race, and self-pres- 
ervation is the first law of life! And because this 
is so, in the natural order of things it is not a ques- 
tion in the premises as to what should be, but of 
what must be, which is my special contention. 

Gnce more: It should be noted that all the crude 
checks to the surplus of humanity which I have men- 
tioned, namely, war, famine, etc., are, in many re- 
spects, chance items in the count, and that is both 
a good and a great reason why they should be elimi- 
nated as factors in human out-workings. Accord- 
ing to the principles I have urged, and which are 
fundamental in all substantial human progress, all 
forms of chance should be removed from human af- 
fairs of every kind, and the reign of deliberate hu- 
man choice and deliberate human control by means 
of the exercise of the human will, should be set up 
in its stead. This is, this can be, the only abiding 
law for the advancement of the human race. Arid 
the control of birth in the human species is no excep- 
tion to this umiversal law! 

Reviewing all these points which I have so par- 
tially called your attention to, is it not clear that, 
without "checks" of some sort, the human species 
will constantly tend to produce a surplus, which 
must be gotten rid of, in some way, or a congestion 
of population will surely follow.? And does it not 
further follow that, with the old initial checks re- 



What Should Be Will Become What Must Be 333 

moved, or losing their force, another, or others, must 
be devised to take their place? Is it not equally 
certain that human desire is in favor of such checks 
being found and made efficient? And do not all the 
probabilities suggest that human imagination and 
human ingenuity will be equal to the task of supply- 
ing the need which such desire suggests? That is, 
is it not possible that the bringing of children into 
this world by choice rather than by chance is at least 
a human possibility, both in particular and in gen- 
eral? And, this granted, my argument on this 
point is closed, so far as this part of the issue is 
concerned. 

One other point in this connection, and then my 
thesis as to why what should be will become what 
must be in these matters will be at an end. This is 
a consideration of the entrance of machinery into 
modem life as a factor in human affairs. I cannot 
go into this branch of the subject to any great 
length, nor is there need of my doing so ; but I must 
mention a few items which are germane to the issue 
we are here discussing, as follows : 

Up to a very few years ago, the number and 
amount of things that could be made for human 
use was a limited quantity. The total of such out- 
put was what human hands, directly applied to se- 
cure given results, could accomplish. For instance, 
the number of pairs of shoes that could be made 
in the entire United States, when I was a boy, was 



334 Children by Chance or by Choice 

only such as could be produced by the shoemakers 
in this country. These did all the work by hand, 
and the number of hands so employed was a defi- 
nite and determinable quantity, which could not be 
greatly increased, even in a considerable length of 
time. But today ! Why, today the number of ma~ 
chi/nes that can be made for making shoes is prac- 
tically limitless ! And this fact, and thousands more 
that are practically identical with it, bear a very 
important relation to the item of population, not 
only in the United States, but in every country in 
the world. 

And the relation they bear is this : The profusion 
of machines which are now doing the world's work 
is rendering the direct employment of human hands 
to do the work which they once did, less and less 
necessary. The result is that conditions are fast 
arising which make it harder and harder for human 
hands to find any employment at all! In plain 
terms, there are too many of them to do what work 
there is left for human hands to do ! And this means 
a surplus of population, when translated into words 
that apply to the problem we are now studying. 

To overcome this new order of things in human 
history, various expedients are being resorted to, 
the chief of which is the shortening of the number 
of hours per day or week in which the labor done 
by human hands can be employed. These are grow- 
ing fewer and fewer, with each recurring year, as 



What Should Be Will Become What Must Be 335 

the number of machines used increases and the num- 
ber of hands that need employment grow more and 
more numerous. This* is a terse statement of one 
phase of the situation ; and what it means is not 
hard to decipher. It is only one more proof of a 
surplus of human beings, where a fewer number 
would meet all needful requirements. And the ques- 
tion is, what to do about it? 

Another effort that is very generally being made 
to help out in this threatening crisis is put forth 
by the unionizing of labor, and thereby attempt- 
ing to limit the number of hands that may be em- 
ployed in any and all vocations. The old system of 
apprenticeship has been practically abandoned in 
all trades and professions, and the standard of ac- 
quirements which these demand has been raised at 
the same time, until now many, if not most, of these 
organized labor associations absolutely control the 
market for their employment, and it is constantly 
getting more difficult for non-union labor to find 
any employment at all. And as I write these lines, 
just at the close of the great war, the supreme prob- 
lem of the hour is how to find employment for the 
millions of soldiers who are returning from army 
life. And, to increase this complication, during the 
years which these soldiers have been in army service, 
women have been employed by the millions to do the 
work which men once did, and they have done it so 
well that their employers are loath to let them go. 



336 Children hy Chance or by Choice 

And if they do not go, the question is, where will 
the men who once did this work find work to do? 
This, in spite of the concurrent fact that many mil- 
lions of men who formerly did the work that women 
are now doing, are dead and buried on the fields of 
Belgium and France ! 

In the face of all this, there is a scarcity of work 
to be done, and a steadily increasing number of 
hands that are seeking and needing employment! 
This is a situation which is bound to grow more and 
more intense, rather than less strenuous, as the fu- 
ture becomes the present; and because this is so, it 
is a situation which demands the most careful and 
thoughtful attention of all who have the well-being 
of humanity in mind. War-following conditions 
may have upset this order of things temporarily, but 
the principle is perpetual, and the situation I have 
outlined will ultimately obtain, give it time. 

Add to these things the certainty of the produc- 
ing possibilities of the machinery which is sure to 
be soon set up in countries which are now densely 
populated, but which have not, as yet, engaged in 
manufacturing, and the seriousness of the problem 
grows more and more pronounced. F'or many years, 
Germany has kept Italy from becoming a manufac- 
turing nation. Italy has no coal, and Germany, 
through her power as a member of the Triple Alli- 
ance, would not permit Italy to develop her water- 
power, of which she has a great abundance; and so 



What Should Be Will Become What Must Be 337 

this densely populated nation has been unable to 
employ her people at home, and has been obliged 
to get rid of her surplus population by emigration. 
But now Italy, released from her former lord and 
master, is planning to harness up her waterfalls 
and put this long-latent power at work driving all 
sorts of machines which are to make all sorts of 
things, for all sorts of people, all over the whole 
world ! 

And what Italy purposes to do, Japan stands 
ready to duplicate, ad lib! Add Russia to this 
same order of proposed extended mechanical exploi- 
tation, together with other great nations of the Far 
East, and something of the extent of what the fu- 
ture has in store for humanity on this count may be 
somewhat generally comprehended, to say the least. 

And all this can mean but one thing, namely, that 
under this order of things, there is a constant lessen- 
ing of opportunity for laborers to do the work of 
the world, and this must mean that there must be 
a corresponding lessening of the number of laborers 
to do what work is left to be done by human hands, 
or trouble is bound to ensue. All of which inev- 
itably links itself up to the problem we are now 
studying, and proves, beyond doubt, that some 
"check" must be put upon human reproduction, if 
a healthy and wholesome state of affairs is to ob- 
tain in the coming generations. And this means 
that the having of children by chance, as under the 



338 Children by Chance or by Choice 

old order of things, must pass, and the having of 
them by choice, where their number can be controlled 
by the exercise of the human will must take its place. 
And this is another reason why what should be will 
be compelled to become what must be. 

As to how the number of children born, as a whole, 
is to be determined, under this order of things, this 
is, of course, an open question, and one which time 
and experiment alone can answer. I have no idea 
that it will ever result from edicts issued from some 
central authority; but rather that it will arrive by 
way of a free and natural response of people who 
know, and who have within their own resources, the 
means of increasing or decreasing the supply of 
human beings that will best meet the social require- 
ments of any day or age. Suggestions as to these 
needs, one way or the other, can now be readily 
disseminated all over the earth, and that such sug- 
gestions will be heeded and acted upon is certainly 
not beyond the possibilities of realization. The ex- 
periences of this last war fully warrant the possi- 
bility of such action, where we have more than once 
seen millions of people, of different nationalities, of 
widely separated conditions and beliefs, respond, al- 
most as an unit, to the mere suggestion that this or 
that be done! Sugar bowls were but gingerly re- 
lieved of their contents, all over the civilized world, 
at the mere request that they be so treated; and 
whole nations went without Sunday rides in their au- 



What Should Be Will Become What Must Be 339 

tomobiles upon the mere ashing of those who discov- 
ered and disclosed the need of their so doing in order 
to save gasoline wherewith to win the war. These 
are facts which go to prove the latent possibilities 
that are inherent in humanity (the plus of it!) in 
response to needed requirements which inure to the 
good of mankind! My thought is, that if condi- 
tions arose in which there was a reasonable proba- 
bility that the human race was increasing faster than 
was best for the interests of all parties concerned, 
all over the earth, that a general dissemination of 
the knowledge of such fact would automatically meet 
a response on the part of the vast majority of the 
people who knew how to have children by choice 
rather than by chance, and who would be glad to 
act according to the needs or demands of the situa- 
tion. And the opposite of this would probably work 
out equally well. If people, so equipped, knew that 
there was need of a greater population for a suc- 
ceeding generation, they would respond to such 
need, upon being informed of the situation. 

Of course, such attainments and responses as I 
have just outlined could not be realized immediately, 
or all at once. Great changes in the beliefs and 
practices of mankind seldom come suddenly, and they 
never come in perfection. Nevertheless, great 
changes do come, and the results they establish are 
enduring and in the line of making the good bet- 
ter, and the better ever tending towards the best. 



340 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

And this is my main contention, namely, that what 
has worked out so well, so many times, in the his- 
tory of the world, will work out equally well in this 
new field for its exploitation. 

As to how the mastery of the Science of Procrea- 
tion, in accordance with these requirements, is to 
be obtained, and how the same is to be generally 
disseminated, among all classes of people, these also 
are problems which the future alone can solve. I 
have made some tentative suggestions on these points 
in previous pages, but the whole situation is so new 
and so complicated that it will require the ablest ef- 
forts of the ablest men and women in the world, 
through long years of study and experimentation 
before success will be obtained. But there are no 
reasons why attempts in the right direction should 
not be begun, and that they will be begun, and that 
before long, I believe to be absolutely certain. I 
have already called the attention of my readers to 
certain signs of the times pointing in this direction, 
and every day such signs are multiplying, all along 
the line. As I write, there comes to my desk a 
journal which is devoted entirely to the subject of 
birth-control, and many medical publications and 
other printed documents are taking up the discus- 
sion of the subject in no uncertain way. My belief 
is that, in the very near future, societies will be 
formed, all over this and other countries, for the 



What Should Be Will Become What Must Be 341 

study and discussion of this subject; and that, as a 
result of such organizations, the first step will be 
taken which will open up the possibility of further 
and real progress in the premises. This first step 
will be the repealing of the mal-formed and ill-con- 
sidered laws upon this subject, which now stand upon 
the statute books of many states and nations, 
thereby making it practically impossible for any 
real progress to be made in solving these greatest 
problems which now lie before the human race. The 
membership in these associations will become so nu- 
merous and so forceful that their united voice will 
be heard and heeded by legislators and courts, in 
no uncertain way. Action will follow these demands, 
and other results will duly follow in natural se- 
quence. This is inevitable! 

A recent world-wide attainment that will make 
such progress much easier than it would otherwise 
be, is the fact that Modern Science has now created 
a passionless vocabulary by means of which this 
whole subject can now be publicly discussed without 
shocking even the most sensitive by its considera- 
tion of the theme. Besides this, it is unquestion- 
ably true that this same Modern Science has tended, 
in many ways, to make multitudes of men and women 
open-minded and fair, and to be honestly anxious 
to know the truth in these matters, as in all others. 
These are great attainments, such as the world has 



342 Children by Chance or by Choice 

never before seen, and they all tend to make pos- 
sible a successful working-out of the principles and 
practices which I have outlined in this book. 

The point I want to urge, in closing this chapter, 
is, that what I have maintained should be in my ear- 
lier pages, I trust I have, in these later pages, proven 
must be, in due course of time. And I would like to 
urge, in addition to this, that you who read these 
lines, help along the cause I have herein set forth, 
and that you do what you can to promote its for- 
warding and its interests. My feeling is that this 
cause is just, and because it is so, it is worthy of 
the best efforts of all men and women, everywhere. 
You, whoever you are, are one of such ; and as such, 
do what you can for what, in your heart of hearts, 
you believe is right. So may it be ! 

In closing this chapter, I cannot do better than 
to quote a part of a leading editorial from one of 
the most stable and forceful literary and scientific 
journals published in the United States, as follows: 

"There is no more important question to be faced 
at the present time than this problem of the birth- 
rate. At the same time, we have got to admit that 
procreation is not the sole way vn which the sexual 
instinct is satisfied at the present time, and we can- 
not forbid rational enquiry vnto the origin of this 
distinction. What is lamentable in the present and 
widespread movement for birth-control is not its ex- 
istence, but the fact that behind it there is so little 



What Should Be Will Become What Must Be 343 

knowledge. If there is any subject into which 
ceaseless enquiry^ medical, statistical, sociological, 
psychological, is needed, it is this problem. Re- 
search nowhere can so deeply affect the welfare of 
society as in the fullest investigation of the issues in- 
volved. Thus far we have contributed nothing save 
senseless legislation and its still more senseless en- 
forcement. The American nation might as well un- 
derstand that prison never solved any biological 
question; that, indeed, in order to thrive, it must 
confront squarely the facts of the age." 

It is to help forward this cause and secure the re- 
sults it aims to obtain that I have in a previous 
paragraph, asked my readers, whoever they may 
be, to each one "do his bit" "for country and for 
God"! 



CHAPTER XVI 

ONE OTHER CORRELATED SUBJECT 

After I had finished writing the previous chap- 
ter, by a curious happening the following letter 
came into my possession, and for reasons I give it 
audience here, under the above heading. It goes 
without saying that, while it is certainly germane 
to the issue I have considered in these pages, yet 
the questions it presents are much too vast and far- 
reaching to be adequately discussed in a book of this 
size, especially at this stage of the proceedings. 
Still, because the letter is so forceful, and because 
it presents a live issue, and because it says so well 
some things that we all ought to think about, at 
least, I quote it as follows : 

Let me say, by way of introduction, that this let- 
ter was written by an unmarried woman, forty-five 
years of age. It was written to an intimate woman 
friend, of like age and condition. The writer is 
a highly educated woman, and author of several 
books of the highest literary quality, and has a rep- 
utation that covers the most intelligent nations in 
two continents. She is the possessor of a fine 

344 



One Other Correlated Subject 345 

physique, and her whole nature is that of the high- 
est spiritual sort. In a word, she is a magnificent 
specimen of womankind, at its possible best. She 
writes : 

"I am one of a large, and, in these days, a con- 
stantly growing class, numerically speaking, of the 
sexually unemployed. 

"Speaking from my own experience and that of a 
large number of those who are conditioned as I am, 
I am convinced that those who are compelled to per- 
manently remain unemployed, in any department of 
life where their employment is a necessary factor for 
their well-being, are, because of the abnormal condi- 
tions under which they are forced to live, in con- 
stant danger of becoming harmful to themselves and 
to their fellows among whom they dwell. 

"In lines of life other than sexual, men make laws 
and regulations whose purpose it is to remedy un- 
toward employment conditions. They strive to find 
employment for the unemployed, and they protect 
those who are employed from the possibility of being 
over-worked in their several callings. They guard 
the young from being put to severe service too early 
in life, and prescribe employment conditions for 
the employed, which will result in the best good of 
the parties concerned. But in matters which pertain 
to sex employment, which is really one of the most 
important in all human affairs, individually or so- 



34)6 Children hy Chance or hy Choice 

ciallj considered, here, not one thing is done to rem- 
edy unhealthful and untoward, not to say threaten- 
ing, conditions ; but vast multitudes of men and 
women are relegated to live under conditions where 
it is impossible for them to find honorable employ- 
ment, such as their natures require if they remain 
normal and healthy individuals, fulfilling their right- 
ful functions as regards themselves, and in their 
social life. On the other hand, nothing is done to 
curb the possibilities of the most shameful over- 
working of those who are respectably and legally 
sexually employed, and who may be compelled to 
suffer unspeakable abuse from those under whose 
control they are legally placed. 

"The thing that forces itself upon me is this: 
Are these things as they ought to be; and, if they 
are not, can anything be done to make them nearer 
right than they now are? As one of the sexually 
unemployed, and on behalf of my fellow-sufferers 
from this cause, I ask these questions. That is, I 
ask them to myself, in the dark, as it were, for who 
would dare to ask them in the daylight, or where 
everybody could hear and know what I said? And 
who among the sexually employed cares, or dares, 
to even try to make a truthful answer, one which 
would at least suggest a remedy for these untoward, 
not to say positively sinful conditions? Do you 
know any such one? If so, please tell him for me 
to speak up !" 



One Other Correlated Subject 347 

♦ 

Regarding this letter, one can but say that, some- 
how, these things which the writer mentions are not 
as they ought to be, and it is something worth while 
that she calls attention to that fact. It is for that 
reason that I have felt it practically a duty to 
give what she says, as I have. 

As to what to do about it, that is another ques- 
tion. For myself, I say frankly that I have noth- 
ing ddinite to suggest ; and I don't know any one 
who has ! Still, that is no reason why the problem 
should not be stated, or why it should be put aside 
as unsolvable. It is the mission of life to right all 
wrongs, and that this woman has pointed out great 
wrongs is unquestionable. And the only thing for 
true men and women to do is to set themselves to 
work on the problem; and, in time, work it out to 
a successful issue. 

But this much is certain, namely, that the having 
of children by choice rather than by chance would, 
in a measure, at least, relieve the present unsatis- 
factory conditions which now keep large numbers 
of the sexually unemployed from marrying, and that 
would be something in the right direction. 

As a matter of fact, the mind of the Western 
world has never yet viewed the problem of the sex- 
impulse in humanity, either for the married or the 
unmarried, from its rightful angle. The opinions 
of the neo-platonic ascetics became intermingled 



348 Children by Chance or by Choice 

with the dogmas of the early Christian theologies, 
many centuries ago, with the result that the idea 
of the unworthiness of the human body, and espe- 
cially the sex part of it, was fastened upon Occi- 
dent mentality with a grip which still holds millions 
of people in its thrall. And to break away from 
such deep-seated and long-standing teachings and 
beliefs will require time and patience and the wisest 
of instruction for many years. And yet, all these 
things must come to pass, in the eternal order of 
things ! 

vj? ^ 5J& ^ ^ ^ 

As I wrote on the first page of this book, content- 
ment with attained conditions is not an attitude of 
mind which brings the best results to humanity, in 
any part of its being or estate. Life is eternal 
progress, and so far as the human race is concerned, 
that progress must be made in the realms of The 
Plus of Humanity, and Love and Service are the 
only factors which can always be counted on to keep 
the race going in that direction. And Love and 
Service come always at the beck of choice, and not 
of chance and hence their offices are strictly in har- 
mony with the main thesis of all I have written in 
these pages. It is only in accord with the princi- 
ples embodied in these words that I have said what 
I have said. If you, whoever you are, will read 
what I have written in the spirit in which I have 



One Other Correlated Subject 349 

written it, good, and only good can result to all 
parties concerned. 

And so, for you and for me, I write for the last 
time, and as the sum total of what everything in 
life amounts to, LOVE AND SERVICE! 



THE END 



INDEX 



"Abortion condemned," 179 
Abortion discussed, 250 
Absolute continence, 193, 193 
Absolute mutuality in all nor- 
mal sex-expression, 222 
Abuse of appetite for food. 

Abuse of sex-expression, 214 
Aceticism defined and its re- 
sults noted, 253 
Acknowledge the facts, 119 
Acts to be judged by their re- 
sults, 147 
Affectional expression a stim- 
ulant, 211 
Affectional sex-expression, 154 
Affectional sex-expression no 
necessary part of reproduc- 
tion, 215 
After-dinner talk, 48, 54 
Aids to eyes and ears, 71 
All-important fact, 100 
"All the Children of All the 

People," 14 
Amongst animals, no danger, 

110 
"Anaesthetic" women, 129 
Analogical methods used, 22 
Analogies between man and 
lower animals mostly worth- 
less, 38 
Analogy and syllogism, 221 
Anscle worms and fertilization, 
16T 



Animal breeding based on in- 
stinct, 42 
Animals cannot choose, 79 
Animal experiences not like 

those of mankind, 40 
Animal fertilizing material, 

165 
Animals have no choice, 85 
Animals have one form of 

sex-expression, 206 
Animal instinct, 106 
Animals only eat to live, 45 
Apostle of Love and Service, 

15 
Appeal to love of show, 264 
Apple-egg fertilization, 157 
Apple-egg powerless to 

choose, 177 
Application of methods of 

Choice, 176 
Apprenticeship abandoned, 

335 
Arithmetical progression of 

food supply, 317 
Art of Love puzzling, 233 
Art of war, how developed, 

305 
Authority and Morality, 148 
Auto-erotic acts of children, 

218, 219 



Basic principles for founda- 
tion,- 22 
Bear few children, 131 
Bees build as they must, 41 



351 



352 



Index 



Begetting of children should 

be a matter of choice, 138 
Bergson's theory applied to 

sex-expression, 213 
Bestial manner of feeding, 49 
Bettering humanity, 87 
Bicycles and morality, 145 
"Big Stick" moves the mate- 
rial world, 311 
Biological and aiSPectional pur- 
pose of marriage, 217 
Birds build their nests, 76 
Birth control now possible, 

288 
Birth rate kept high, 262 
Blasphemy of the "let-alone" 

theory and practice, 233 
Burflen of care and anxiety 
lifted, 242 



Can anything be done. 111 

Change in laws necessary, 227 

Chance a factor in primitive 
life, 28 

Chance now supreme factor, 
135 

"Checks" for surplus of spe- 
cies, 308 

"Checks" in human species 
must be, 332 

"Checks" upon population, 
321, 322 

Chief cause of marital trou- 
bles, 216 

Children, multi-millionaire's, 
246 

Children by choice better citi- 
zens, 249 

Chivalry, 113 

Choice, a human characteris- 
tic, 37 

Choice a measure of human 
progress, 28 

Choice a significant factor, 
176, 178 



Choice as a factor in plant 

and animal progress, 29 
Choice impossible below man, 

177 
Christian woman. The, 92 
Church leaders objectors to 

birth control, 271 
Church situation, 281 
ChurcK-taught peoples, 131 
Civil institutions supersede 

church, 282, 283 
"Come!" the call to mental 

and spiritual life, 311 
Commercial sex-exploitation 

exterminated, Q6Q 
"Common law," 96 
"Conception," 174 
Conditions in China, 12 
Condition preceding birth, 199 
Congressional attitude on the 

subject, 13 
"Consider the Lilies," 39 
Cook-books not to be sup- 
pressed, 57 
"Copulation," 170 
Corn-silk and corn-tassels, 

160 
Crab-apple tree fruit, 33 
Crass stimulus of war, 328 
Crime of abortion would be 

removed, 250 
Crime to impart knowledge, 

136 
Criminal offense to limit pos- 
sibilities, 187 
Crochet work, 48 
Crude means used to stimulate 

primitive man, 302 
Curious and significant fact, 
111 



Death rate of chance-born 
babies high, 277 

Debauchery the result of dis- 
satisfaction, 243 



Index 



353 



Democracy of the human 
body, 133 

Demonstration by civilized 
humanity, 123 

Dense population of Belgium, 
327 

Dense population of England, 
327 

Dense population of Germany, 
326 

Derivation of "Morals," 144 

Desire at low ebb, 128 

Desire for children natural, 
245 

Desire, Imagination, Inge- 
nuity, 69, 70, 84, 128 

Dickens, Charles, 261 

Difference between pollen and 
spermatazoa, 166 

Difficulties of the problem of 
voluntary human reproduc- 
tion can be overcome, 138 

Dinner described, A, 46, 47 

Diphtheria and yellow fever 
overcome, 137 

Disagreements and insistences, 
117 

Disease diminishing, 322 

Disgrace and responsibility of 
the profession, 15 

Divine impulse, 106 

Divinely ordained purpose of 
marriage, 217 

Divorce courts are abnormali- 
ties, 210 

Doctrine of "don't" gives no 
progressive results, 257 

Doomed to disappointment, 9 

Doubting souls, 279 

Do your bit, 343 

Duty to society, 186 

E 

Ear-helpers, 71 
Early history of Monogamy, 
112 



Early manifestations of af- 
fectional sex-expression, 218 

Economy of nature, 310 

Edicts will never regulate 
number of births, 338 

Efforts of military leaders, 
263 

Element of slavery in mar- 
riage, 113 

Eliminate risk of reproduc- 
tion, 223 

Emerson, QQ 

Enforced inhibition, 182 

"Evolution of Dodd," 14 

Example of German effi- 
ciency, 292 

Example of Jacob, 275 

Experiments in New Zealand 
and Holland, 12 

Experiences of men and wom- 
en regarding sex-expression, 
139 

Exploiters of human labor, 
271 

Exploiters of the poverty- 
stricken, 273 

Extreme suppression of a nat- 
ural impulse dangerous, 140 

Eyesight has two modes of 
expression, 67 

Eye-helpers, 71 

Eye-sight in men and mere 
animals, 63, 64 



Famine and Chance, 29 
Famine now largely impos- 
sible, 313 
Far East problem, 337 
Full expression of possibili- 
ties, 196 
Fertilization of cells, 155 
Fertilization of human egg- 
cells, 174 
Fewer children could be bet- 
ter nourished, 249 



354 



Index 



Fifth Symphony, 68 

"Fifty-fifty" the basis of sex- 
expression, 217 

Final moral-arbiter, 152 

Financial straits prevent mar- 
riage, 252 

Fires of passion left uncon- 
trolled, 230 

Food chemically made from 
air, 325 

Food per square mile, 319 

Food supply and species limi- 
tation, 307 

Food supply something to 
think about, 318 

Former duties and deeds of 
the church, 286 

Franklin, 88 

Free distribution of sex-liter- 
ature, 294 

Fundamental principles in 
equity, 115 



Gate of Purpose, The, 31 
Geography and morality, 145 
Geometrical progression of 

population, 316 
Germany and Italy, 336 
Germany's scientific foresight, 

325 
Generous view of natural de- 
sires, 59 
"Gestation period," 171 
Getting drunk right or wrong? 

151 
Girafi'e's-neck %eory, 212 
Girl babies toL rated, 262 
Gluttons in the world, 5Q 
God-born expression, 105 
God's intent, 89 
God no respecter of persons, 

194 
Golden Rule applied, 152 
"Go !" the demand in the ma- 
terial world, 311 



"Go to the ant," 37 
Great changes in belief and 
practice come slowly, 339 

H 

Habitual unrest leads to quar- 
rels, 244 

Handicap of ignorance, 12 

Harder for human hands to 
find employment, 333 

"Hard knocks" aroused prim- 
itive man, 307 

Have people a right to re- 
main unmarried? 189 

Hearers fewer than seers, 55 

Hearing and the plus of hu- 
manity, 67 

Heart to Heart talk, 97 

Help the cause along, 342 

Helps to humanity, 70 

Hindoo philosopher, 75 

"Holy ground," 164 

Honesty of Church leaders, 
269 

Honor to whom honor is due, 
270 

How animal eggs are fertil- 
ized, 168 

How cells multiply, 155 

How flowers are fertilized, 
157 

How human progress began, 
50 

Humane and efi'ective plan, 
328 

Human acts cannot be meas- 
ured by animal standards, 
43 

Human beings begin life on 
animal plan, 80 

Human body held to be con- 
temptible, 57 

Humanity and common sense, 
23 

Human physical appetite con- 
trolled by choice, 45 



Index 



355 



Human species no exception 

to law of increase, 332 
Human will, a check, 314 
Human will, a factor, 86 
Human will, the basis of plus 

of humanity, 44 
Husband could kill wife, 115 



Ignorance and innocence, 154 

"If two shall agree," 116 

Ill-considered laws must be 
repealed, 341 

Imagination for partner, 106 

Imagination supplements de- 
sire, 50 

Immediate legislation may be 
had, 15 

Impulse, 77, 78, 84 

Incarnating souls haphazard? 
30 

Increase in average life-time, 
323 

Indefiniteness of the situa- 
tion, 10 

India conditions, 12 

Indications of reason and 
common sense, 200 

Infertile cells, 155 

Ingenuity supplements imagi- 
nation, 50 

Indiscriminate indulgence, 102 

Individuality determines its 
own actions, 38 

Individual liberty, 190 

Instinct, 75, 84 

Instinct is universal, 83 

Instinct makes no progress, 
77 

Instinct not sufficient guide, 
81 

Instinct sole guide, 99 

Intuitive knowledge safe 
guide, 84 

Intuition, 81, 82, 84 



Issue involve, many items, 

179 
Italy released from former 

condition, 336 



Jack Tanner's exclamation, 
246 

Japan as a factor in the prob- 
lem, 337 

Jealousy rooted* in selfishness, 
254 

Journalism a help, 340 

Judgment, 82 

"Judgment Day" in advance. 

Jungle and an unknown way, 

127 
Justice and right, 192 

K 

Knowledge of science of re- 
production now possible, 
289, 290 



Labor for original researches, 
31 

Law compels a wife to submit, 
222 

Law of surplus never re- 
pealed, 314 

Laws of United States, 181 

Laws to stimulate reproduc- 
tion, 272 

Legal rights, 106 

Letter from an unmarried 
woman, 344, 345 

Letter regarding extreme sup- 
pression of the sex-impulse, 
141 

"Let them alone," 229 

"Let them lie in the bed they 
made," 236 



356 



Index 



Licentiousness outside wed- 
lock, 251 
Life is eternal progress, 298 
Life-Force always moves man 

up, 301 
Life-Force's problem? 302 
Life-forms practically sex- 
less, 207 
Life has rallied from all ret- 
rogressions, 299 
Lily has no volition, 41 
Limited mission of eyesight 

in animals, 64 
Literature and eyesight, Q6 
Living a continual lie, 9Q 
Long, H. W., M. D., 237 
Low French birth-rate, 287 
Love and Service, 348, 349 
Love-exchanges essential to 

marital happiness, 225 
Lowly origin of the human 

race, 300 
Lying modes of sex-living, 98 

M 

Maeterlinck, 39 

Machinery as a factor in the 

problem, 333 
Main thesis to be read as 

written, 348 
Malthus, Rev. T. R., 315, 323 
Malthus* Law of species, 316 
Man and Superman, 246 
Man eats to live, and some- 
thing more, 45 
Mankind outside animality, 

109 
Mankind outside comparison 

with mere animals, 38 
Mankind something more than 

any other life forms, 43 
Man made in God's image, 

302 
Man's meddling with nature, 

72 



Man more than flesh and 
blood, 206 

Marital rights, 216 

Marriage gives free rein to 
sex-exploitation, 217 

Mastery of reproductive sex- 
expression demanded, 138 

Materially constructive pur- 
pose of food, 62 

Matters of must, 176 

Meaning of righteousness, 
146 

Mechanical progress through 
choice, 34 

Meddling with Nature, 35, 198 

Medical Society's "meddling 
with nature" report, 35 

Mendel, 39, 41 

Militarism must have armies, 
286 

Military situation considered, 
278 

Miracles not frequent, 103 

Mission of church now spirit- 
ual, 284 

Mission of sex in human fam- 
ily, 118 

Modern Science to the rescue, 
341 

Moral act may be unright- 
eous, 146 

Morality and righteousness 
compared, 144 

Morality the "proper thing," 
144 

"Mortify the flesh," 254 

Most children born by chance, 
202 

Much prudery swept away, 
293 

Mult i-millionaire children, 
246 

Multiplication of species and 
food supply, 307 

Mutual agreement, 116 

Mutuality of sex-expression 



Index 



357 



healthful and wholesome, 

Mutual consent not required, 

110 
Mutual expressions promote 

well-being, 209 
Myriads of waiting souls, 199 
Mystery for science to solve, 

291 



N 



Nature and instinct not suffi- 
cient guides, 229 

Nature and man working to- 
gether, 30 

Natural desire for Children, 

Natural desires held to be sin- 
ful, 58 

Needless suffering of hus- 
bands and wives, 222 

Need of clear exposition, 13 

Need of dissemination of sex- 
knowledge, 228 

Neo-platonic ascetics, 348 

Nervous breakdown from re- 
pression, 185 

Never - ought - to - be parents, 
258 

New-developed philosophy of 
natural desires, 59 

Newness of the whole situa- 
tion, 340 

Newly wedded husbands and 
wives, 229 

North Pole searches, 20 

No slight task, 120 

Not only rightful way, 108 

Not rhapsodising, 107 

"Now is the accepted time," 
296 

Number of cells and life- 
germs, 197 

Number of germs equals stars 
in the sky, 171 



Old order is passing away, 87 

Omne vivum ex ovo, 156, 165, 
172 

One must not insist where two 
are concerned, 116 

One standard of right before 
God, 146 

Only one way to maintain a 
nation, 279 

Opinions of "Good Society," 
148 

Opponents to Malthusian the- 
ory, 329 

Opposition of church leaders, 

me 

Original intent and purpose, 
134 

Ovaries, location and func- 
tion, 173 



Pabulum, mental and spirit- 
ual, 60 
Parker, Theodore, 88 
"Parturition," or birth, 171 
"Patiently wait for outcome," 

237 
Paul's declaration, 91 
People who like to see things, 

Perfect harmony, 107 

Persistence of affectional sex- 
expression, 219 

Personal observations, 126 

Philanthropic moves thwarted, 
324 

"Phones," "phone" words, 71, 
72 

Physical appetite for food as 
shown in mankind, 45 

"Pigment spot," 63 

"Pie belt," 47 

Pitfalls and bogs left open 
for newlyweds, 231 

Plagues and chance, 28 



358 



Index 



Playing "dead dog," 141 

Plus becomes more and more 
supreme, 73 

Plusses of eyesight, QQ 

Plus of Humanity defined, 44 

Plus of humanity, 203 

Pollen and its mission, 158 

Poor people not obliged to 
have children, 248 

Population doubling every 50 
years, 309 

Population of British Islands, 
320 

Population per square mile, 
319, 320 

Portal of Chance, The, 31 

Possibilities for race surplus 
great as ever, 323 

Possibility of coercion, 115 

Possibility of parentage elim- 
inated, 184 

Possible power of choice in 
human breeding, 42 

Pregnancy, 1T4 

Pregnancy and affectional 
sex-expression, 220 

Pre-historic testimony, 298 

"Presto, pass," 88 

Primal qualities in mankind, 
300 

Primary checks on human re- 
production passing away, 
332 

Primary expression, 105 

Prime factor in great war, 327 

Primitive eyes, 63 

Principle of Progress by 
choice solidified, 23 

Prisons never solved any bio- 
logical problem, 343 

Problem of the unmarried 
should be stated, 347 

"Prodigality of nature," 160, 
170 

Production of human germs 
still a surplus, 313 



Progress a constant factor, 

297, 298 
Proposing and opposing, 244 
Pros and cons of two modes 

of sex-expression, 153 
Prostitution might be de- 
stroyed, 26Q 
Prove up your own acts ! 150 
Public school sex hygiene, 295 
Puritanical influences, 130 
Purple sheep, 93 
Purpose of clothing, The, 92 



Q 



Quality not quantity of chil- 
dren born, 250 

R 

Race suicide, 245 

Rank and file kept in igno- 
rance of sex-facts, 139 

Raw meat and unground 
grain, 53 

Records necessary, 235 

Red clover blossoms, 162 

Reduction of births a calam- 
ity? 276 

Regulation of marriage by 
law, 324 

Relative values of Chance and 
Choice, 27 

Repeal of laws necessary, 136 

Requests regarding sugar and 
gasoline, 338 

Results of animal breeding 
applied to humanity, 274 

Results of recent war, 295 

Righteousness and morality 
compared, 144 

Rightness or wrongness of 
method, 195 

Ring, mystic symbol, 114 

Russia as a factor in the prob- 
lem, 337 



Index 



359 



s 



Sane or insane birth-control, 

13 
"Sane Sex-life," 237 
Savage tribes and newly-weds, 

230 
Saying of Bernard Shaw, 117 
Saying of Chinese philosopher, 

116 
Scientific study of conception, 

Scientific view of bodily func- 
tions, 58 
Science of Procreation diffi- 
cult, 233 
Science of procreation handi- 
capped, 265 
Science of procreation to be 

mastered, 31 
"Scopes," "scope" words, 71, 

72 
"Seminal fluid," 166 
Sex-abnormalities overcome, 

256 
Sex-expression rises above in- 
stinct, 100, 101 
Sex-ignorance, 154 
"Sex organs," 170 
Sexual aberrations resulting 
from abnormal sex-expres- 
sion, 142 
Sexually overworked, 345 
Sexuallv unemployed, 345 
"Shamie! Shamie!" 129 
Shaw, Bernard, 246 
Shoes and machinery, 334 
Should be and must be, 297 
Side-saddles and morality, 145 
Side-stepping an issue, 330 
Sight beyond eyesight, 67 
Sight in formation of char- 
acter, 122 
Significant sounds, 68 
Significant words, 116 
Signs of the times, 237 



Sinners only called to repent- 
ance, 155 

Slow processes of Evolution, 
30 

Small danger of extravagant 
indulgence, 243 

Smoking and knitting, 52 

Societies to be formed for 
handling the problem, 340 

Solomon, 39 

Some check on human repro- 
duction must be had, 337 

Sophisticated condition, 129 

Sources of help received, 20, 
21 

Source of human-egg supply, 
173 

"Spawning," 168 

Spiritual upbuilding and sex- 
expression, 214 

Spiritual upbuilding one mis- 
sion of food, 62 

Statistics not procurable, 126 

Strawberry fertilization, 159 

Strictly continent living con- 
sidered, 226 

Strong business man's tears, 
247 

Subtle procedure of religious 
leaders, 267 

Surface of earth, limited area, 
325 

Surplus of egg-production, 
163 

Sum total of life, 349 

Surgical instrument used for 
producing conception, 213 

Sweeping conclusion, A, 191 

Syllogism on man's Sex-ex- 
pression, 94 

Synchronism of two forms of 
sex-expression, 224 



Table-furnishings eliminated, 
49 



360 



Index 



Tatting, 48 

Teachings of Jesus Christ, 

13i2 
Teaching vs. practice, 95 
Tenet of Greek religion, 112 
Testimony of keepers of 

brothels, 225 
Testimony of three classes, 

127 
Theory of Christian Church, 

91, 92 
Theory one thing, practice 

another, 90 
Theory that culture reduces 

productivity, 329 
Things essentially different 

not comparable, 40 
Third class of objectors, 271 
Those best pleased with what 

they can eat, 54 
Three classes of objectors, 260 
Three I's, The, 74 
Titian, Q6 
To sum up, 201 
Tragedies resulting from ab- 
normal Sex-living, 142 
Treatment of auto-erotic chil- 
dren, 219 
Triple alliance, 336 
True law of normal sex-life 

sought, 143 
Truth and love the cornerstone 

and arch of real marriage, 

218 
Twofold manifestation, 204, 

205 
Two modes of sex-expression 

in mankind, 104, 105 
Two modes of expression for 

appetite for food, 60 



U 



Unable to nurse their babies, 

136 
Under possible control, 109 



Undeniable meaning, 125 
Undue strain and stress, 130 
Unpleasant truths, 268 
Unusual instance, 183 
Utterly false conditions, 98, 

W 

War, animal and human, 304 
War, famine, poverty, etc., 

S03 
War leaders, 261 
War probably nearing its end, 

312 
War the crudest stimulating 

force, 304 
Waste of fertilizing material, 

163 
Waste of germs deplored? 

172 
Web of generation, The, 331 
What eyesight makes possible. 

What is right? 178 

What is wicked? 191 

What married people would 
prefer, 180 

Where does duty begin? 188 

Where results of acts may 
"land," 147 

Where trouble comes in, 101 

Whitman, 237 

Whitman on theories, 212 

Who cares or dares to pro- 
pose a way out? 346 

Wholesome manner of living, 
134 

"Why even of your^ Ives?" 
149 

Why young people refrain 
from marrying, 14 

Wilful birth control, 330 

Wild hogs and horses, 34 

Wives were shut up, 112 

Wives were stolen. 111 

Wonderful fact, 124 



Index 361 

World lesson, 280 Y 

World war as a factor, 335 ^ ^ ^ ^ ^^^ Y. W. C. A. 

^rong answer of modern phi- ^,^j^^^j^ ^^^^^^^^ ^^^ 

Wr?nT mental attitude re Young people prohibited from 
'^^^rfingTe^tduc^^^t 169 .-^-""^ Sex-knowledge, 



3477-5 



